Amjad Khan Biography :
Born: November 12, 1940, Peshawar, Pakistan
Died: July 27, 1992, Mumbai
Spouse: Shaila Khan (m. 1972–1992)
Wiki : Amjad Khan was a popular actor who is known for his iconic character of Sholay called Gabbar Singh and Dilawar of the film Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. He was born in a small village near Peshawar during the colonial rule of British in India to the legendary actor called Jayant. His family comes from Pakistan but shifted to India after the partition. When he was a child he was shifted to Bombay wherein he did his schooling from the prestigious school called St. Theresa’s High School based in Bandra, while for hsi college he went to RD National College, wherein he was too popular, which gave him the position of general secretary of the student body.
Amjad Khan started his career as a theatre actor, while his first movie in Bollywood was Nazneez released in 1951. Next came the movie in 1957 called Ab Dilli Dur Nahin, he was seen with his father Jayant in a couple of movies with smaller role and was also seen assisting K Asif for the film Love And God in the late sixties, however, his death kept the movie incomplete, finally getting completed in the seventies and releasing finally in 1986. He made his debut as the main lead in the film called Hindustan Ki Kasam. In 1975, he got the role of Gabbar Singh in the classic called Sholay, which was made by Salim Khan. Amjad Khan got an overnight stardom with his incredible role of Gabbar. He simply stole the show for his eerie dialogues and incredible acting skills despite having legends like Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar.
This gave him an ad of Britannia Glucose Biscuits (usually called the “Gabbar Ki Asli Pasand”), this was perhaps the first attempt to sell any popular product from any villain of Bollywood. With the success of Sholay, he continued to work in the negative roles till he worked the last time. Some of his movies, which made him popular include Nastik, Des Pardes, Chambal Ki Kasam, Dada, Hum Kisise Kam Nahi, Ganga Ki Saugandh, Naseeb, Hum Kisise Kam Nahi, etc. Besides, he was also popular for playing a number of unconventional characters in films like Shatranj Ke Khiladi, which was directed by Satyajit Ray. Some of the movies wherein he was in positive roles include Yaarana and Laawaris, Love Story, Qurbani and Chemeli Ki Shadi. He also acted in one English movie called The Perfect Murder wherein he played the underworld don.
Apart from acting in a number of movies, he also ventured into the domain of direction wherein he lived for a while working with the film called Chor Police in 1983, which turned out to be a big hit followed by other called Ameer Aadmi Gareeb Aadmi in 1985, which turned out to be a flop over the box office. Amjad Khan was also the president of the Actors Guild Association. He was honoured for his work in the industry and was known for his noble character and thus was seen even resolving disputes between directors, actors and producers and others in the film fraternity.
