With Dharmendra‘s passing away, the Indian film industry has lost yet another shining gem. From being part of Bimal Roy’s black-and-white movie Bandini to stepping into the shoes of Sholay‘s Veeru – one of the most iconic characters ever – the actor’s versatility shone through his career.
His range as an actor was such that he could have played any of the memorable characters in Ramesh Sippy‘s Sholay, including Gabbar Singh and Thakur. He even asked the director if he could play any of these characters.
Sippy, in a column for Hindustan Times, wrote how the legendary actor wanted to play out-and-out villain Gabbar Singh and the quiet or an intense Thakur Baldev Singh. However, the director convinced him to play the friendly crook Veeru instead, and his reasoning made Dharmendra say yes to the role immediately. That’s how the Jai-Veeru jodi was complete, as Amitabh Bachchan was already finalised for the role.
‘Hema Malini nahi milegi aapko,’ Sippy told Dharmendra
“Dharmendra was a versatile and colourful man. He was so multifaceted that when I was casting for Sholay (1975), his choice was a toss-up between Gabbar Singh and Thakur,” wrote Sippy for HT.
“But I convinced him to play the role of the friendly crook Veeru, saying if he played Thakur or Gabbar, “Hema Malini (who played Basanti) nahin milegi aapko.”
The reasoning made sense to Dharmendra, who immediately agreed to play Veeru, and “also suggested that we take Amitabh Bachchan to play Jai, not knowing he was already on board.”
Sippy felt it was Dharmendra’s natural energy that made him a perfect fit for the role, and the contrast of Amitabh Bachchan’s character being more subdued worked out very well for the film.
How Jai and Veeru were conceptualised
“As required by the script, his was a far more outgoing character, and Amit ji was more subdued and inward. So that contrast showed very nicely with both of them. He had done some subdued roles also, but I found him doing these strong and bright roles even better. He was outstanding, and a lot of it was himself. It was intended in the script that he should be,” the director told NDTV in an interview.