Mumbai: Today is the death anniversary of veteran actor Sanjeev Kumar. A phenomenal actor who was widely acclaimed, Kumar’s character ‘Thakur’ in the movie Sholay immortalized him.
Sanjeev Kumar was the only actor with whom Jaya Bachchan played roles ranging from his wife to his daughter-in-law.
Kumar died of heart attack in 1984 at the age of just 47. The actor twice won the National Award for Best Actor for the movies Dastak (1970) and Koshish (1972). He made his film debut with a small role in Hum Hindustani in 1960.
Perhaps you would not know that Dharmendra wanted to play the role of Thakur in Sholay. At that time, Dharmendra and Kumar were both allegedly in love with Hema Malini. Dharmendra’s interest confused film director Ramesh Sippy. Sippy told Dharmendra that you will get a better chance to romance with Hema while playing Veeru’s role than Thakur’s.
The trick worked as Dharmendra gave up his stubbornness and the rest is history. Kumar is still remembered for his iconic portrayal of Thakur.
If reports are to be believed, Kumar never married anyone and spent all of his life alone because he was in love with Hema until his dying breath.