‘Sanjeev Kumar: The Actor We All Loved’ is the authorised biography of late actor Sanjeev Kumar that tells the story of a 14-year-old teenager who went from rags to riches. It has been penned by biographer Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta and Kumar’s nephew and heir to his legacy Uday Jariwala. The story is complemented with a compilation of essays by Kumar’s closest friends in the cinema industry like Randhir Kapoor, Gulzar, Sharmila Tagore, Moushami Chatterjee and Tanuja among others.
The inspiring story of Sanjeev Kumar
A boy of 12 years of age, born as Haribhai Jariwala had lost his father. His mother was in debt. Although, Haribhai wanted to fulfil his dreams of being an actor and he accomplished his dream with tremendous grit and determination. Haribhai owned his struggles, his fears and he trusted his god-gifted talent.
Born in Surat as Haribhai, he became popular as Sanjeev Kumar. His life was imbalanced in a lot of ways. However, Kumar saw 14 years of struggle and 14 years of dizzying success and lived a full life in half the amount of time.
Sanjeev Kumar- The actor who had no boundaries
During the 1960s, Prithiviraj Kapoor marked a theatre actor while watching a stage adaptation of Arthur Miller’s ‘All my Sons’ who was playing the old man. The 22-year-old actor was Sanjeev Kumar.
Kumar began his career in the 1960s where he acted in films like Hum Hindustani, Nishan, Alibaba aur 40 chor and Shikar. However, he became a known face with his role in Khilona in which he essayed the role of a madman. His acting was way more mature than his age and this bagged him films like Aandhi and Mausam.
He was awarded the Filmfare award in the best actor category for Aandhi. The Gulzar-Kumar duo delivered some mighty projects like Koshish and Dastak, both which brough national awards for Kumar. In his film Naya Din Nayi Raat, he took versatility to a new level by playing 9 roles, that too with consummate ease.
Other than versatility, it was his powerful performances in Trishul and Vidhata that helped him carve out his own niche. His comic timing was also evident in Seeta Aur Geeta, Angoor, Pati Patni Aur Woh among others. He came with a mother in debt and went as a superstar leaving behind his incredible legacy.
The man who went down with an incredible legacy
There are many stories that are floated from time to time for the sake of TRP. However, the life story of Sanjeev Kumar was different from others. Sanjeev was a god-gifted actor who could pick any role and turn it into his own. In the short span of time he did 155 films.
There were many factors that made him the Sanjeev Kumar we know today like his harmful decisions, his risk taking abilities, his love life, misplaced trust, nagging health issues, his love for food and his drinking habits.
Sanjeev was a foodie, as we would have called him today and had a special love for wine. In 1982 while he was shooting for Suraag, he ordered so much that the waiter thought there were some more people joining him. However, he ended up finishing it all by himself.
He often reached the sets late and his shots were okayed in just one take. He would finish the entire day’s work and then head straight to drink. He was a big lender, who gave money to everyone in times of need. Further, he didn’t charge small producers for his roles.
Unfortunately, the marvellous actor was born with a heart condition that ran in his family. He had once prophesied that no male in the family would live to be 50. His father and two brothers died early. It seemed that he wanted to live up to the prophecy. Henceforth, even after going through a heart surgery he wouldn’t follow any of the advices given by the doctor.
On November 6, 1985, Sanjeev Kumar passed away following a heart attack. Thus, leaving behind all the discussions regarding his love life that the gossip magazines found too interesting.
The ‘controversial’ love life of Sanjeev Kumar
Sanjeev Kumar, the actor who was loved by all had to battle many demons in his last days like loneliness and constant struggle with bitter hopelessness. Three very famous love affairs of Sanjeev Kumar were with actresses Nutan and Hema Malini and singer Sulakshana Pandit.
As per the book, Sanjeev Kumar first worked with Nutan in Gauri (1968) followed by Devi (1970). Kumar was awestruck by her beauty and thus his relationship began with Nutan who was already married to Naval Lt Commander Rajinish Bahl since 1959.
The love birds caught the attention of the media and back-to-back stories were published regarding the same. This obviously did not go down well with Bahl and then happened the slap-gate incident. It was when Nutan slapped Kumar at the sets of film Devi that further legitimised the existence of the relationship.
Nutan did so after she read the news about their affairs in a magazine on the insistence of her husband in order to quash the rumours of their proximity. In an interview with Vijaya Irani for Star & Style in December 1979, Sanjeev Kumar said that he had received a proposal for marriage from a nice girl, who was not from the film industry. However, the actor turned it down as he was “too busy involved with a top star, who was married.”
Later, Rajinish offered an apology to mediate a truce. However, Kumar had refused to accept the same. A chapter specifies about the situation suggesting that Nutan was all set to walk out on her husband to marry Sanjeev.
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Hema Malini and Sulakshana Pandit
The biography touches on one of the most delicate relationships of Sanjeev’s life, his relationship with Hema Malini. Their proximity increased while they were shooting Seeta Aur Geeta. The couple had met with an accident during the shoot as they had to slide down a hill.
After suffering injuries, it is believed that the concern and care increased in the relationship. It is known to all that Hema Malini, while in relationship, had started visiting Kumar’s home and cooked food along with his mother.
Malini covered her head with pallu and touched Shantaben’s feet, such was her relationship not only with Kumar but also with his family. However, back home, Hema Malini’s mother did not approve of Malini’s marriage with Sanjeev. Later Malini married Dharmendra in 1980, while Sanjeev spent a few of his last years with Sulakshana Pandit.
After Suraiya, Sulakshana Pandit was the first singing star of Hindi cinema and she delivered back-to-back chartbusters. She nailed acting too and movies like Apnaapan and Hera Pheri made her a box office favourite.
Sulakshana Pandit knew how big a foodie Sanjeev was and hence used to cook his favourite dishes and bring them to shoot locations hoping the belief that the way to man’s heart was through his stomach.
Sulakshana Pandit loved Sanjeev unconditionally but the affection they shared could never transform into a relationship. As Sanjeev knew about his condition and knowing this, he never wanted to give false hopes to Sulakshana Pandit. However, Sulakshana Pandit couldn’t stay away from Sanjeev and his death completely left her shattered.
Sanjeev Kumar, although had no offspring but has a road, a stamp, a school and an auditorium to his name. That was the life and legacy of Haribhai Jariwala, mine and yours Sanjeev Kumar.
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