RAMESH SIPPY WHY DID THE FIRE NOT BURN AS BRIGHT AS IT BURNED THE FIRST TIME?

By Ali Peter John

Some men (and women) are blessed by destiny or call it whatever that unknown power which leads human beings and no power, no force and no fear can change what is destined for them, a man like Ramesh Sippy, for example.

Ramesh was born the son of G.P. Sippy who was into the property business during the immediate post partition days and was the first to start what was called the “pugree” system by which any one could buy a home after paying an advance, pay a monthly rent and get back the advance when the room was vacated. It was a successful system which was followed by many others and did a world of good to those who did not have enough money to buy their own homes in a city like Bombay. Sippy soon started his own film production company because he saw money in it and gave breaks to a number of young directors who later went on to grow into big and powerful men in the world of films. Sippy Films, the banner he founded was an established banner within a very short time and Sippy was a leader of the film industry …

Ramesh, a graduate, was fascinated by the making of films more than the glamour and the money involved in it. He joined H.S. Rawail, a leading filmmaker of the sixties and worked as one of his many assistants during the making of his most ambitious film, “Mere Mehboob” made with Ashok Kumar, Rajendra Kumar and Sadhna. Ramesh did every thing possible to learn all that he could about filmmaking and he was one of Rawail’s favorite assistants because he had no problems in facing any problems in the line of duty and was willing to work very hard and do even the kind of jobs which spot boys did. One of his main jobs was to keep the stars happy which he believed was “better than half the battle won for a director”. He had learned enough about filmmaking during the making of “Mere Mehboob”, a Muslim social which went on to become a very big hit and he still remembers how he was excited when he saw his name in a crowd of the credit titles of the film “which was like finding your name on the list of someone who had passed a very important examination’.

Ramesh then joined his father’s company and worked in the production department and helped his father in solving all the every day problems and his father was so impressed that he gave him the post of a production executive during the making of his film “Brahmachari” directed by Bhappi Sonie, a common friend of Sippy and the leading man of the film, Shammi Kapoor. The film had Rajshri (daughter of V.Shantaram), Mumtaz, who was playing second leads or parallel roles and even the vamp because all she wanted was work to earn enough money to keep her big family going. Pran was the villain of the film. Shammi Kapoor who was a very big star took a liking for Ramesh and tried to teach him as much as he could and even told his father that Ramesh could make a very good director because he knew more than what many established directors in the industry knew. He made his first film with his favorite, Shammi Kapoor, Hema Malini who had still to find her place as a big star and the superstar Rajesh Khanna whose one song, “Zindgi ek safar hai suhana” and his sudden death leaving Hema a widow who later falls in love with Shammi who played a widower was something new for the audience which made the first film of Ramesh Sippy, the director, “Andaaz” a big hit.

Ramesh was not satisfied with all that he had learned and read all kinds of books on the making of films, read the biographies of stars and star directors and observed all the directors who made films for his father’s banner. It was during this learning period that he met a failed actor and struggling poet, Salim and Javed who were a part of what was called the “Sippy Films Story Department”. They grew into great friends and exchanged ideas whenever they were free. It was during one of their meetings that Salim and Javed who had decided to form a team as writers came up with the idea of making a female version of “Ram Aur Shyam” which was made with Dilip Kumar in his first double role and which was a very huge success. Ramesh was taken up by the idea and the only actress he could think of who could play a double role and make an impact was Hema Malini who had proved her mettle with “Andaaz”. He approached Hema with the role and she was petrified. She did not the have the courage to play a role which was played by the greatest actors of the country, Dilip Kumar. But Ramesh and his two young writers who were very good at making an impression while narrating the story of a film with every scene and dialogue finally managed to make Hema agree to play the role. Ramesh had a perfect script which was almost like “Ram Aur Shyam” but with some new changes to suit a woman in a double role. Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar were the two heroes of the two Hemas in the film and the film was a bigger hit than “Ram Aur Shyam” and Hema was accepted as the first female superstar.

Ramesh now wanted to try making a different kind of film. He was a very great fan of all the westerns made in Hollywood and wanted to try his hand at an Indian version of the western. He was also inspired by a small film called “Khotte Sikkey”, a film made by one of his father’s directors Narendra Bedi with Feroz Khan as the only known star and Ajit as the villain and a film made on a very low budget, shot in the jungles of Mumbai and in black and white was a success. He talked about his idea to Salim -Javed who loved it. They saw all the classic westerns made in Hollywood, they also had a look at “Khotte Sikkey” and decided that they could try and make a modern version of the Indian western and worked on a script which took them several months because they kept finding new ideas. It was finally decided to make a film with Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, an upcoming actor called Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri. But they had a major problem in finding the right villain. They did not want to have the typical dhoti- clad and turbaned typical dacoit seen in several Hindi films. Their villain would be wearing faded jeans, would have a stubble, and would wear army boots and chew tobacco whenever he had to deliver his most powerful lines. They approached actors like Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha and finally Danny Denzongpa and they not only turned down the offer but also scoffed at Ramesh’s idea of changing the image of the Hindi film dacoit. The film was ready to take off on a huge set of an entire village surrounded by mountains on the out skirts of Bangalore, but shooting was held up because of not finding the right villain. Ramesh was in despair when he suddenly thought about his college friend, Amjad Khan who was a theatre actor and the son of Jayant, one of the most handsome sophisticated villains of Hindi films. Amjad had assisted a director like K.Asif and had played a part of a crowd scene in Asif’s film, “Love and God”. Ramesh talked him into playing the role of Gabbar Singh which Amjad accepted as a very big challenge but it was a bigger challenge for Ramesh because the first man to object to his choice was his own father and when he was introduced to the rest of the cast they all felt Ramesh was destroying the film by casting a new actor who they said was too weak to face the challenge of heroes like Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and above all Dharmendra, but Ramesh stuck to his guns and refused to change his choice of Amjad. The film was made entirely on a set of a village specially built for the film on the outskirts of Bangalore, and called Rampur. Ramesh worked like a general going to war during the making of the film and completed it in a record time in spite of all the hassles he had to face. The film was released on August 15, 1975.

Ramesh held a grand premiere for all the celebrities of the industry and was shocked to see the reaction. It looked as if the industry had decided to take a decision to call the film a flop and that was what it was for the first three days, a very big flop. But as if like a miracle the film picked up on the third day and then did not look back for the next five years. The same people who ran down the film called it a classic and a cult film and all those who laughed at Amjad Khan accepted him as the most successful villain and Gabbar Singh became a house hold name. The film was a bigger hit than “Mother India “ and “Mughal-E-Azam” and Ramesh Sippy the director with the Mida’s touch. ..

It took Ramesh a long time to think about making his next film because he knew how high the expectations had soared. In one of his inspired (?) moments he thought of making a city- based, sophisticated version of “Sholay”. He asked his friends Salim- Javed to write a script and the result was “Shaan”, a film starring Sunil Dutt, Shashi Kapoor, Parveen Babi, Bindiya Goswami and two new actors, Mazhar Khan and Kulbhushan Kharbanda in whom Ramesh saw his greatest villain, even a greater villain than Gabbar Singh. He did not cast any one from the cast of “Sholay” for reasons best known to him. A film made with the same passion bombed at the box -office like very few films have and people wondered if this was the same Ramesh Sippy who had directed “Sholay”. The film did not do any good to any one, especially Mazhar and Kulbhushan who saw dreams of the great time to come for them after the released of the film. ..

A shaken up Ramesh was now in serious trouble as people started suspecting his ability as a director. After several months of thinking he came up with a brand new and fresh idea of making a love story called “Saagar”. He had Rishi Kapoor and Kamal Haasan coming together for the first time and created a casting coup when he brought back the married and separated Dimple Kapadia, looking as young and much more gorgeous. The performances of the three stars, the music and that one scene in which Dimple reveals her bosom in a fleeting scene made the film a very classy film but it failed to draw the masses even though the critics gave it raving reviews..

From “Saagar” onwards, it was only one slip after another for the maker of “Sholay”. He tried making “Akayla” with Amitabh Bachchan and Amitabh himself openly asked if this was the director he had seen as the “supreme commander’ during the making of “Sholay”. He also had the unique opportunity of bringing together two of the greatest actors of Indian cinema, Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan in “Shakti” in which a young actor called Anil Kapoor played a bit role. It was a film about a major clash between crime and punishment, crime represented by Amitabh and punishment by Dilip Kumar. It was one of the most eagerly awaited films, it had naturally two of the greatest performances but still people who saw the film only concentrated on the performances and neglected the film which resulted in one of the finest chances missed by a director. Ramesh unfortunately could not even save this film. Ramesh showed that he had lost his magic touch. Neither “Akayla” nor “Zamaana Deewana” he made with the new star Shah Rukh Khan failed to bring back any of his lost glory.

The only time he could see a glimmer of hope was when he made a TV serial called “Buniyaad” which is considered a landmark in the history of Indian television. Ramesh has not been able to make another film for the last ten years. He cites several reasons which includes the rising prices of stars and the paucity of subjects, but the bitter fact remains that he has still to find that Ramesh Sippy who had once coloured the pages of Indian film history in blazing letters. Will that Ramesh return or will he always be remembered as the man who made just one great film “Sholay” and then forgot all about making great films?

More on Ramesh Sippy

– He was in love (“before I knew what it was to fall in love”) with Hindi cinema even when he was a student and made it a point to see every film possible and Dilip Kumar and Shammi Kapoor were his favorites and he often dreamt of working with them one day
– When he saw “Godfather” he came out saying, “what a script, I can make ten films out of this one script, but I will never do that. If I ever succeed I will make films which will have my own touch. No copying or imitating even the greatest director for me”.
– He had the chance to learn thing from some of the greatest directors of the past and also the times he was working in
– He never forgot his days when he assisted H.S.Rawail and the kind of jobs he did. He remembers the firings he received from Rajendra Kumar who was the biggest star of those days, the love of Dadamoni (Ashok Kumar) and how one of his duties as an assistant was to carry the chappals of Sadhana, “the heroine who I fell in love with hopelessly”
– He remembers his father telling him stories about Dilip Kumar as an actor and a man of great learning. He made those stories the source for inspiration for him and dreamt of the day when he would direct the great actor and that day came when he directed the legend in “Shakti”
– He is also a great admirer of Amitabh Bachchan about whom he says, “Anyone who works with Amitabh can make any kind of film and direct the best of actors anywhere in the world”.
– Ramesh says he has learned the best under the most trying circumstances when he made the fifty- two episode serial, “Buniyaad” which dealt with the partition.
– Ramesh has been on the jury of several National and International Award Festivals, but has found it a very tough task because of politics and manipulation playing a very important role at all awards.
– Ramesh married the daughter of Ramesh Patel, the owner of Film Center (now defunct), the leading lab of the film industry for several years. They have two children, Rohan who is a leading director today and Sheena who is an internationally known photographer and has done the stills for several leading films and some even for her father. Ramesh met a young TV actress called Kiran Juneja during the making of “Buniyaad”, fell in love with her, divorced his first wife and now lives with Kiran. The two have no children.
– Ramesh broke off all ties with his father and his brother and has nothing to do with Sippy Films because he has started his own banner, R.S.Productions which has still to make a hit during the last twenty- years
– He has a very good command over the English language and has his own school of philosophy called the “Ramesh Sippy school of thinking for all occasions”
– He is one filmmaker who is concerned about the state of affairs in the country and wants to do something specially now when he says he sees great hope for the country with leaders like Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul and Omar Abdullah
– He is seventy-two but is a fitness freak and gives a major share of the credit for his good health to his wife Kiran
– Ramesh believes that it is man who can make his own destiny
– He loves living a good life and is seen at all the parties in the city, dancing with his wife Kiran, a thing he shares with his father, G.P.Sippy who loved the company of beautiful young women and good Scotch
– Ramesh now has only one ambition. He will start four films, one directed by himself, one by his son Rohan and the other two by directors from outside.