Sanjeev Kumar

More than thirty-five years after his death, Sanjeev Kumar remains a role model for all aspiring actors. He could light up the screen in a pair of underpants, paunch showing, as he did in one of Hindi cinema’s most popular songs, ‘Thande Thande Paani Se’ (Pati Patni Aur Woh). Entirely unselfconscious of his image as a star, he would often be cast as an old man, playing the role of a father to his contemporaries—Sharmila Tagore in Mausam and Amitabh Bachchan in Trishul—or, most famously, of the elderly Thakur in Sholay. And yet, he could leave an indelible mark with his presence and his acting prowess.