When Amjad Khan Did Not Have Money To Get His Wife Discharged After Childbirth

Yesteryear actor Amjad Khan has left an unparalleled legacy behind him. The Gabbar Singh of Indian cinema was the first actor to have popularised an antagonist to the point of making the character a cultural pop icon. Although Amjad Khan left the world at the young age of 48, he had a successful career in Indian cinema in the two decades that he was a part of it. Do you know a trivia related to his most celebrated role of Gabbar Singh in Sholay? The veteran actor’s son Shadaab Khan was born on the same day that he signed the iconic film.

In a recent interview with Etimes, Shadaab was asked whether he considered himself his father’s lucky mascot since Amjad bagged his most important role on the day he was born. He laughs at the question and agrees but also shares an interesting fact about when he was born. According to Shadaab, Amjad did not have the money to get his wife Shehla Khan released from the hospital after their son was born. “She started crying. My dad was not showing up at the hospital; he was ashamed to show his face,” he said. Luckily, the late actor Chetan Anand arrived like a messiah at the time. Amjad had already done Chetan Anand’s film Hindustan Ki Kasam by then and when Chetan Anand saw Amjad standing in a corner holding his head, he gave Amjad Rs 400 so that Shadaab and Shehla could come home.

Shadaab also recalled an incident ahead of Sholay’s release. When Amjad’s name was recommended by Salim Khan to Ramesh Sippy for Sholay, he was supposed to fly down to Bangalore and then from there travel to Ramgarh which is 70 kilometres from Bangalore. He got on a flight to Bangalore but the aircraft had to land back 7 times due to turbulence. While most people abandoned the flight and got off in fright, Amjad lingered on as he was scared the role of Gabbar Singh would go back to Danny Denzongpa, who was initially offered the role. So, after a few minutes, he took off on that same plane.

It paid off and the role was ultimately played by him, the rest being history.

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