Mumbai, Aug 14 (IANS) Producer-actor-director Sachin Pilgaonkar, who essayed the role of Rahim chacha’s son in the iconic film ‘Sholay’, has shared how he ended up doubling up as an assistant director on the sets of the film.
Sachin spoke with IANS ahead of the 50th anniversary of the film, and said that he was hand-picked by the director of the film, Ramesh Sippy to run the show on the 2nd unit of the film.
Talking about the same, he told IANS, “Ramesh Sippy was making a second unit for action sequences. In which he had already appointed some Indian technicians, action directors. And also foreign Hollywood action directors. So he was going to do all the work. But Ramesh ji himself was not able to be present there because he had a lot of work. And it took two years to make this film. But there was a lot of work. Ramesh ji was very busy in those 2 years. That’s why he kept that second unit”.
He further mentioned that in order to represent him, he needed two people, and everyone else was busy at that time.
He continued, “There were only two people on the film sets, who were idle. One was Amjad sir and the other was me. Because we were very attached to this film, we had a deep involvement. Ramesh ji observed us. That’s why he selected us. He told us to go there and represent him. And he gave us instructions to avoid this and that. Because the people working there were not as involved in the film as Ramesh ji was. So that’s why he needed two people who were involved in the film”.
“Ramesh ji briefed us. And we would observe what was happening. And then we would go and report to Ramesh ji. So that’s how we got into the direction department. And Ramesh ji couldn’t say no to us. When we were assisting him, he didn’t say no. So that’s how we got into the direction department”, he added.
In ‘Sholay’, Sachin’s character gets killed by Gabbar, essayed by Amjad Khan, in the film. ‘Sholay’ is set to clock 50 years of its release on Friday.
–IANS
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