Amjad Khan | |
|---|---|
 Amjad Khan in 1982 | |
| Born | Amjad Zakaria Khan (1940-11-12)12 November 1940 |
| Died | 27 July 1992(1992-07-27) (aged 51) |
| Alma mater | St. Andrew's High School R. D. National College |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1951–1992 |
| Known for | Sholay (1975) |
| Notable work | Gabbar Singh |
| Spouse | Shehla Khan |
| Children | 3 (includingShadaab Khan &Seemaab Khan) |
| Father | Jayant |
| Relatives | Imtiaz Khan (brother) Akhtar ul Iman (father-in-law) Suraayah Seemaab Khan (grand-daughter) Zafar Karachiwala (son-in-law) |
Amjad Khan (12 November 1940 – 27 July 1992) was a renownedIndian actor and film director.[1] He worked in over 132 films in a career spanning nearly twenty years. He was the son of the actorJayant. He gained popularity for villainous roles in mostly Hindi films, the most famous among his enacted roles beingGabbar Singh in the 1975 filmSholay[2] and of Dilawar inMuqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978).
Amjad Khan was born inBombay,British India on 12 November 1940 into a family ofPashtuns to actorJayant, who was originally fromPeshawar,North-West Frontier Province (nowKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan).[3][4][5] His younger brotherImtiaz Khan was also an actor.
Amjad Khan was educated atSt. Andrew's High School inBandra. He then attendedR. D. National College where he held the position of general secretary. During his college and school days, he worked as a theater artist and performed in his college with his brother. Later, he earned hismaster's inphilosophy (first class) fromBombay University and used to win prizes both as actor and as director at the inter-collegiate theatre festivals.[6] Apart from English and Urdu, Amjad Khan was also fluent inPersian, having done another master's inPersian literature, and he would help his wife for her exams in this subject.[7]
Khan started his career as a child actor with his first film role at the age of 11 in the filmNazneen in 1951. His next film roles were inAb Dilli Dur Nahin (1957) andMaya (1961). He assistedK. Asif during the making of the filmLove And God and had a brief appearance in the film. The film was left incomplete after Asif's death in 1971, and it was finally released in 1986. In 1973, he appeared inHindustan Ki Kasam in a small role.
In 1975, Khan was offered the role of dacoitGabbar Singh for the filmSholay by one of its writers,Salim Khan. In preparation for the role, he readAbhishapth Chambal, a book onChambal dacoits written by Taroon Kumar Bhaduri (actressJaya Bhaduri's father).Sholay went on to become a blockbuster and one of his most acclaimed and well known roles.[3]
After the success ofSholay, Khan continued to play negative roles in many subsequent Hindi films in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s – superseding, in terms of popularity and demand, the earlier Indian actor,Ajit. He often acted as villain oppositeAmitabh Bachchan as the hero. His role inInkaar was also presented in terrifying manner. He made his presence felt inDes Pardes,Nastik,Satte Pe Satta,Chambal Ki Kasam,Ganga Ki Saugandh,Hum Kisise Kum Nahin andNaseeb.[8]
Khan was also acclaimed for playing many unconventional roles. In the critically acclaimed filmShatranj Ke Khiladi (1977) (based on the novel of the same title), byMunshi Premchand and directed bySatyajit Ray, Khan played the helpless and deluded monarchWajid Ali Shah, whose kingdom,Avadh, is being targeted by British colonialists from theBritish East India Company. It is the only movie in which he dubbed a song. In 1979, he portrayed Emperor Akbar in the filmMeera. He played many positive roles such as inYaarana (1981) andLaawaris (1981) as Amitabh's friend and father respectively,Rocky (1981) andCommander (1981). In theart filmUtsav (1984), he portrayedVatsayana, the author of theKama Sutra. In 1988, he appeared in theMerchant Ivory English language filmThe Perfect Murder as an underworld don. He excelled at playing comical characters in films such asQurbani (1980),Love Story andChameli Ki Shaadi (1986). In 1991, he reprised his role as Gabbar Singh inRamgarh Ke Sholay, aparody of the legendary film which included look-alikes of Dev Anand and Amitabh Bachchan.
He ventured into directing in the 1980s, directing and starring inChor Police (1983) andAmeer Aadmi Gareeb Aadmi (1985), both of the films did not do well at the box office.[3] His first directorial venture Adhura Aadmi remained incomplete.
Amjad was the president of the Actors Guild Association.[9]
In 1972, he married Shaila Khan, the daughter ofUrdu poet and screenwriterAkhtar ul Iman,[10] and in the following year, she gave birth to their first child,Shadaab Khan, who would later join the entertainment industry. He also had a daughter, Ahlam Khan, an actress and screenwriter,[11] and another son, Seemab Khan, who is aclub cricketer.[12] Ahlam married popular theatre actorZafar Karachiwala in 2011.[13][14][15]
Amjad Khan was fond of literature and philosophy, having studied the subject, often quotingEnglish poets such asKeats,Byron,Wordsworth,Shelley as wellancient Greek philosophers likePlato andAristotle.[16]
On 15 October 1976,[17][18] Amjad Khan met with a serious accident on the Mumbai-Goa highway which left him with broken ribs and a punctured lung. He was on his way to the filming ofThe Great Gambler, starringAmitabh Bachchan.[19]
Amjad Khan was passionate aboutbadminton andbull-work but, following another accident, he was diagnosed withBell's palsy in 1984. This led to a course ofsteroid treatment which, combined with his poor eating habits, caused excessive weight gain that negatively affected both his health and his career.[16] On 27 July 1992, he died of a heart attack. He was 51.[17][13] His death was attributed to amyocardial infarction.[16]
Khan is known for his powerful screen presence and voice. His famous character Gabbar Singh remains one of the most mimicked and admired characters in Indian pop culture.[20] Khan demonstrated himself from the poetic nobility of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah inSatyajit Ray’sShatranj Ke Khilari (1977), to humorous characters in films likeQurbani andUtsav. Despite struggling with health complications after a severe accident in 1976, he continued to deliver impactful performances throughout the 1980s. He transitioned into comedic and character roles, earning admiration for his ability to reinvent himself.[21] Khan's performance inSholay was list in "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema" byForbes.[22]
Khan was also known for his generosity, wit and leadership. He served as president of the Cine Artistes Association, where he advocated for actor welfare. His peers frequently recalled his sense of humor and strong moral principles.[21]
In 2022, Khan was placed inOutlook India's "75 Best Bollywood Actors" list.[23]
The son of Zakaria Khan, a Pathan from the North-West Frontier Province and popular Bollywood character actor of the Fifties and Sixties (screen name Jayant), Amjad Khan was born in Bombay in 1940.
Amjad was a strange combination of a brilliant student who did his M.A in a difficult subject like Philosophy and got a first class from the Bombay University and who won all the major prizes as an actor and director in inter-collegiate theatre festivals.
[Amjad Khan's wife] "Amjad had done his Masters in Persian, which was my second language too. So he'd teach me Persian," says she.
My maternal grandfather, Akhtar ul Iman, was a very famous writer who penned films like Ittefaq and. Waqt.
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