WITH Sholay celebrating its 50th anniversary, the spotlight is back on its director Ramesh Sippy, 78. One of India’s prominent filmmakers, Sippy entered the film world as a child artiste when he acted in his lawyer-turned-film producer father GP Sippy’s movie Shahenshah (1953). At 25, he made his directorial debut with Andaz (1971). His next was Seeta Aur Geeta (1972) after which he took up the mammoth task of directing Sholay (1975) – a big-budget action movie with a multi-star cast.
While Sholay went on to become an all-time great, Sippy continued to expand his oeuvre by experimenting with different kinds of movies such as the Bond-like thriller Shaan (1980), crime drama Shakti (1982), Saagar (1985), a love story, and television show Buniyaad (1986–1987), among others.