Ramesh Sippy

Ramesh Sippy was born in Karachi on January 23, 1944 but during the tumultuous India–Pakistan partition, his father, G.P. Sippy moved his family to Bombay, in pursuit of safety and celluloid dreams.

After many early brushes with cinema, including acting as a child artist in Shahenshah and at the age of 17, working as an apprentice before turning executive producer with the Shammi Kapoor-Rajshree-starrer Brahmachari, Ramesh worked for 7 years as an assistant before making a successful directorial debut with Andaz, in 1971, starring Shammi Kapoor, Hema Malini and Rajesh Khanna, This was followed by his second box-office hit, Seeta Aur Geeta, in 1972, with Hema Malini in a double role opposite Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar.

In 1975 he completed a hat trick of successes when he directed the “curry western” style action adventure film Sholay, which was the first Indian film released in 70mm with 6-track stereophonic sound. Sholay went on to become one of the biggest hits in Bollywood film history and won Ramesh and the Sippys enormous acclaim and still remains one of best remembered films in Hindi film history to this day.

Sholay was awarded Film of the Millennium by the BBC. In 2002, Sholay also topped the British Film Institute’s poll on Indian cinema. With a dialogue that achieved cult-status, the film tells the story of two runaway thieves defending a village against bandits. Commenting on the success of Sholay, Cary Sawhney, Director of the ImagineAsia festival, said: “Sholay has themes akin to the great Hollywood and Italian Westerns, with an action-packed story of everyday heroes defending a village. It also has a spectacular villain, songs and an all-star cast led by the legendary Amitabh Bachchan. It is this mix of elements which makes Sholay infinitely watchable and loved by millions of fans. It is the perfect Hindi film.”

His next 3 films Shaan (1980), Shakti (1982) and Saagar (1985) were also successful. Shaan was another big-budget, star-studded production. And Shakti, Sippy’s first film for an outside producer, brought together Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan in critically acclaimed performances, while Saagar in 1985 saw the return to the silver screen of once teen idol Dimple Kapadia.

He then created television history when he directed a successful television serial titled, Buniyaad, which focused on the India and Pakistan Partition and originally aired in 1987. Ramesh Sippy's Buniyaad, is even known as the Sholay of television.