As far as im concerned sanjeev is the greatest actor ever to crown the indian cinema as far as acting prowess is concerned , his natural gestures combining with his absolutely natural voice give you a persona that is matchless and will never be achieved again in our lifetime .
he was born in mumbai to a gujrati family and started his career from theatre which gave him the fine foundation which no non theatrical actor can achieve but it is his natural talent and the theatrical discipline that makes him the greatest actor ever in india .
his first movie was hum hindustni in 1960 and this was followed by a spate of mediocrity till guru dutt died and he was replaced by the genius k.asif in his magnum opus love and god which was doomed by the makers death but gave sanjeev the chance to be noted by dilip who cast him in** sungharsh** and for the first time dilip was overpowered by another actor as he gave a performance to turn the tables on the great thespian .
thus began his stardom with **khilona **where he plays a mental retard with mumtaz and his rendition of rafis song is tremendous
khilona jaan kar tum to mera dil tor jate ho
but his roles in basu bhattacharyas **anubhav **as a bored husband and the black comedy ** gustakhi maaf** , with **tanuja** are simple genius .
Then came bedis **dastak **with rehana , a groundbreaking movie about social attitudes to prostitution , a unique script embellished with madan mohans best with lata and he got his well deserved first national award,
his 2nd national award came in gulzars **koshish** in 72, a landmark globally and the best performance ever on indian screen as a deaf mute with jaya in an awesome climax as he admonishes his son he brings tears to my eyes .
About this time **shammi** planned a remake of **irma la douce** as **manoranjan **and who could play lemmon but hari .
gulzar cast him as feroz gandhi in indras biographical** ANDHI** in a lyrical script only gulzar can write for sanjeev as he did in his shakespearean comic adaptation **angoor** in 83 with moushmi , but the **suchitra sen** **sanjeev** pairing is a great classic that will always blaze on the indian screen like a sun
tum agaye ho noor agayahe
yet he gave comedies like **manchali , imaan , apne rang hazaar** with leena chandavarkar who he was romantically linked with too.
then came **geeta aur seeta with hema** and a scandal rocked bollywood as big as the sucess of the movie and hemas amma created a misunderstanding which broke his heart forever
his best with gulzar was coming in** parichay** and again he was immaculate as an elderly maestro [sound of music ], he made **anamika** next a crime thriller with jaya again .
then came the unique** NAYA DIN NAYI RAAT** with jaya where he enacts **9 roles** simultaneously and miraculously.
HIS INTERACTION WITH JAYA IS SUPERB, ITS RUMORED THEY WERE BROTHER SISTER TO EACH OTHER , so appropriately they played their last roles opposite each other in **silsila** as the deceived consorts, but they shine on screen as two beacons of talent even in shole as father and daughter **.
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but who could perceive he was to play the world famous **thakur** in **sholay** and create the most famous characters with amjad as **gabbar** in sippys tribute to spaghetti westerns
he plays father in **trishul **to amitab and again his elder brother in **khuddar **and in both he is far superior to amitabs lead acts .
this is matched by an artistic **shatranj ke khilari** with ray of genius where he plays a degenerate muslim nawab with perfect urdu diction , as his great voice can be moulded into any accent .
but his take on les miserables with shabana in **DEVTA **is as good as his version of jekyll and hyde with rekha in** CHEHRE PE CHEHRA** , where he plays the villain seamleesly as his role in devta where he goes from shades of evil to a saint with remarkable **versatility **. .
his next is** ****vidata** again with dilip but dilip but this is a stalemate.
the movie **uljhan **pitted him with **sulakshana pandit **and his last affair started with the gifted singer actress
he gave some great acts with **sharmila** in gulzars **mausam**[adapted from ajcronins judas tree ] again where he plays a lover and father convincingly to sharmilas double role , but I like them in **NAMKEEN** more with shabana , waheeda and kiran , where he plays a truck driver as also a lawyer in samantas **charitraheen **based on **79 park avenue**[harold robbin].
He was now absolutely living on alcohol and sustained his first heart attack but went onto give **qatl**, a brilliant thriller with sarika , as completing **doop chaon** his last movie with hema which took 10 years .
his best work includes **arjun pundit** , satyakam the hrishida classics which was written for him and the lesser known namumkin with zeenat
he also did social satires like swarg nark** , zindagi** [bagban ], shriman shrimati , yehi to hai zindagi , insaf, **insaf ka** **mundir** where he plays nadiras son and **suraag , **a delightful suspense thriller , humare tumhare and shandar with rakhee and itni si baat , pati patni aur woh with vidya sinha, while **apki kasam &** mukti with rajesh are stalemates too .
The movie with shabana on incest **LOG KYA KAHENGE** is my fave from his latter era as its unique and daring and ahead of its times .
But after giving all these treasures he succumbed to his final coronary in 1985 , its rumored that hema went to see him before his death for a private meeting but its not known what information was exchanged in the prefatal visit
Hopefully one day hema will write a true auto biography and pay the final tribute to this great actor who could not complete **love and god** , an actor worth his weight in gold who couldnt find true love but is now free of his sorrows .
now this is to my friend mak as a tribute to his cinematic knoweledge and his support to me for the last 3 months
bless you mak