While in his late 40s, Hangal was offered the part of Raj Kapoor's brother in 1966 film Teesri Kasam by director Basu Bhattacharya but his scenes were removed from the film. However, there was no looking back for him after that. He starred in over 200 films. He mostly played the roles of father, uncle, grandfather or that of a meek and harassed old man, an image he could never get rid off
'The way the anticipation is built up for Gabbar Singh's introduction scene with sound, image and details of his personality, like the combat boots he wears.' 'The camera comes so close -- not a tele lens shot, but a wide-angle close-up -- that you can almost smell Gabbar's breath.'
Would Thakur and Gabbar be squabbling over WIFI and Twitter trends?
Get your lowdown on what's going on in the world of Bollywood with Subhash K Jha.
'I don't celebrate my success and that's why I don't moan my failures.'
Dharmendra was fascinated by Gabbar's role, then he said he would like to play Thakur. 'I told him he won't get Hema Malini.' 'He laughed and said okay (to play Veeru).'
True Indian scenes most often lie on less travelled routes, along roads that have fallen off the map, after modern highways have come up. On the fourth leg of their 2,148 km journey, Rediff.com's Archana Masih and photographer Rajesh Karkera discover one such forgotten place in the Thar Desert.