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When discussing Bollywood villains, the name Ranjeet is hard to let go. The actor has cemented himself as one of the leading antagonists during his multi-decade career, and has made a lot of memories during that time. In a recent interview, Ranjeet discussed his career and his contemporaries, namely Raaj Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Feroz Khan and Danny Denzongpa. He told stories from his time working with them, and how these stalwarts dealt with their careers.
Recalling an incident involving Raaj Kumar and Raj Kapoor, Ranjeet told AlphaNeon about the time Raaj refused to do a film for a very surprising reason. He said, “Raj Kapoor was telling the story of a film to Raaj Kumar. He listened to the story and said that he liked the film and asked Raj sahab the name of the film. He replied, ‘Jogan’. Raaj sahab said, ‘I need to use the bathroom now,’ so Raj Kapoor sahab pointed him towards the bathroom. But Raaj sahab said, ‘If I use your bathroom, I will have to do your film as well. You take an actor like Raaj Kumar and then you name the film after a woman.’”
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He added that everyone had these quirks and ways they would decide if they wanted to do a film or not. “When producers from the South used to visit Dilip Kumar, he used to scale his house’s wall and run away. He never wanted to do those films, and his people would tell the producers that he isn’t home. Similarly Danny Denzongpa got stuck with Feroz Khan’s Dharmatma. The poster of Sholay with Danny as Gabbar was already out and we all knew about it.”
Ranjeet continued, “Feroz sat Danny down and convinced him by saying, ‘There are 3 heroes, what will they do there? I am going to sing with Hema Malini. (They already have 3 heroes there. What will you do? I am giving you a song with Hema Malini.)’ So Danny couldn’t come back, and the makers of Sholay had a schedule, so they called me. But I refused because Danny was a friend, and Amjad was already with the unit, so he became Gabbar.”
