Veteran actor Sharat Saxena began his career way back in the mid-70s and since then, he has obviously worked with some of the biggest actors and filmmakers. The actor spoke extensively on this topic in a recent exclusive interaction with
When asked who are the actors with whom he enjoyed working, he said, “I had a good bond with all the actors I have worked with. It started with Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan. We worked together on a lot of films and had a great bonding. Randhir Kapoor gave me the name ‘Sexy’. Then Amitabh Bachchan also started calling me ‘Sexy’. Salman Khan changed it to ‘Sexy sir’! Randhir called me ‘Sexy’ because of my surname. Mere pitaji ko bhi log ‘Sexy’ bolte the! So I had a very good relationship with these people. I worked in Mahesh Bhatt’s Naya Daur (1978). Chintu (Rishi Kapoor) was the hero.”
He continued, “I did many films with Salman Khan. Unke saath bhi acchi pehchaan ho gayi hai. With Shah Rukh Khan, I think I have only done 1 or 2 films. Aamir Khan ke saath bhi 2-3 films kari hai. It’s also been great working with these guys. Jitne bhi hamare heroes hai, woh basically acche log hai. They are hard-working and don’t have any ego problems. They are just like you and me.”
Sharat Saxena then revealed, “Among the old people, the man whom I enjoyed working with the most was Vinod Khanna. He gave me the maximum amount of respect. It was unbelievable how good a human being he was. Itne pyaare sajjan the woh. I was nobody in front of him. I last worked with him in Deewaanapan (2001). Hum unke chamche bane the usme! After his shoots used to be done, he used to wait in the vanity van for our shoot to get over. After we used to finish with our work, he would sit with us for some time and only then he’d leave. He had later become a Member of Parliament. Yet he used to give me a call once in a while. He would ask me, “Sharat, tum kabhi phone kyun nahi karte?”. I’d reply, “Aap star hai, aap itne bade aadmi hai. Hum kya phone karein?” He used to be like, “Arre nahi yaar, aisi baatein mat karo”. It’s unfortunate that such a great man had to pass away like this. Aaj bhi dukh hota hai.”
As for the directors he enjoyed working with, Sharat Saxena stated, “I did a lot of films with Deepak Bahry. He did a lot of movies with Mithun Chakraborty, Dharmendra etc. I first worked with him in Agent Vinod (1977). Then he cast me as a villain in Tarana (1979). Another great director I worked with was Ramesh Behl. He was a sweetheart; jab bhi unki koi film banti, toh mereko role de hi dete the woh. When he learnt that I am getting married, he opened his cupboard and handed me Rs. 5000. Uss zamane mein Rs. 5000 bahut badi rakam hoti thi. I am talking about the year 1981. Ramesh Sippy was also nice. I have never had a difficult time with any directors. Sab acche log the. Jinhone hamare saath gadbad ki hai, unka naam hum nahi lenge!”
Finally, he narrated, “Once producer Pranlal Mehta told me a very nice thing. He was a prolific producer. He offered me the role of a chamcha in some film. I told him, ‘Sahab, main chamche ka role nahi karunga. Jiska chamcha bana rahe ho, uska role karunga’. Kabir Bedi was supposed to play the boss. So I demanded that I’ll play Kabir Bedi’s part. He made me understand by saying, ‘Hum log jo picture banate hai na, uske saath ek package bhi tayyar hota hai’. The package is the hero, heroine and the villain. He said that this is the package that we sell to the distributors. He explained to me that ‘Agar main aapko villain loonga toh package gadbad ho jaata hai. Package mein aap fit nahi ho rahe ho’. So it took me a lot of time to fit in that package. And it finally happened in Ghulam (1998).”