Major Anand

QAMYAB – THE FORGOTTEN GEMS OF BOLLYWOOD

Qamyab is our humble tribute to all those lesser-known actors, one hit wonders and junior artists who we see umpteen times but don’t know about; beyond their faces. These actors have been an integral part of Bollywood but didn’t get their due. This series is our sincere attempt to put a name to these faces, familiarize them to our readers and celebrate their achievements in life – however big or small. We believe that every artist contributes in his/her own way to the cinema’s success. Qamyab will explore the unknown lives of such actors and artists as we believe even these forgotten gems of Bollywood deserve their due recognition today.

Sholay (1975), one of the biggest blockbusters of Hindi cinema, has lend immortality to all its characters – from the main leads to supporting cast.

Apart from Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar), Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), Veeru (Dharmendra), Basanti (Hema Malini) and Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan), even small characters like Jailor (Asrani), Soorma Bhopali (Jagdeep), Mausi (Leela Mishra), Sambha (Mac Mohan), Kaalia (Viju Khote) and Ramlal (Satyen Kappu) became iconic and are still remembered by movie buffs.

Today’s forgotten gem also played a character in Sholay and will bring instant recollect. He played a dacoit; one of the three henchmen of Gabbar Singh, who is shot dead by Gabbar himself, on a deadly game of Russian roulette. This character didn’t have any dialogues and has limited screentime in the movie, yet remains memorable. The actor portraying this dacoit, is Major Anand.

It is quite interesting how Anand became an Army Major and later, joined Bollywood and became a part of Sholay. So, let’s begin with his life journey…

Major Anand was born on 10th August, 1941 as Amarjeet Singh Anand to Mohar Singh and Veera Kaur in Uttar Pradesh. He was youngest amongst his six siblings. He did his early schooling from Dav, Gorakhpur and was directly admitted to sixth grade as he had studied at home earlier. Anand was a bright student and a sports enthusiast. He made a name for himself in several sports, while in school and college.

Anand was good at studies and after passing his high school, he did his eleventh grade from Mahatma Gandhi High School. In 1964, Anand earned his civil engineering degree from Aligarh University. He got placed in the Indian Army through its campus recruitment.

Much before his army selection, Anand had won the Surya-namaskar (Sun Salutation) competition in school. He loved playing football and at the age of just seventeen years, represented Gorakhpur University in this sport. He excelled in running too and was often called ‘Milkha Singh’ by his friends after winning the 400 meter and 500-meter competitions.

In 1962, during the Indo- China war, many youngsters were recruited in the Indian Army and that is when Amarjit Singh became Major Anand. He fought for India in the 1965 and 1971 war against Pakistan. Major Anand was doing well in the Indian Army but somehow, got bitten by the acting bug.

During his posting in Bangalore in 1968, Major Anand came across a person called Ghulam Ali, who was cousin of Sanjay Khan and introduced him to the actor- director. Major was always a movie buff and it was during this Bangalore posting, he got to meet and interact with film personalities.

Once, Major Anand asked Sanjay Khan if he could act in films. Khan advised him that working in movies is not easy. It requires a lot of efforts and hard work. He offered to extend work to Major to the best extent possible.

By then, Major Anand had developed such craze for acting that he left his army job and came to Bombay (now Mumbai) to become an actor. At that time, Sanjay Khan was gearing up for his directorial debut Chandi Sona (1977) and this was the first film signed by Major Anand.

Chandi Sona got delayed and Major Anand’s debut became the 1974 film Trimurti. Many mistake his debut to be Ramsay Brothers’ Andhera (1975), where he played one of the baddies called Michael but that was actually his second release. Major Anand also appeared in Feroz Khan’s much acclaimed hit Dharmatma (1975) and got to work with the three Khan brothers: Feroz, Sanjay and Sameer.

1975 is a year no Bollywood buff can ever forget as Sholay released on Independence day that year and created history. Major Anand got a small role in this film, which he never must have dreamt of becoming so iconic and memorable.

Major Anand enters as a dacoit in Sholay, sans any dialogue or character name but just laughing hysterically, before being shot dead by his master Gabbar Singh. It was just a ten minutes role, where Gabbar kills him along with his two fellow bandits for failing to loot the Ramgarh villagers and coming back empty handed. Gabbar Singh’s entry, where he kills his own three men (including Kaalia), was the highlight of Sholay and got Major Anand noticed even in a short role.

After Sholay, there was no looking back for Major Anand and he went on to appear in many movies. His notable films are Dharmatma (1975), Kalicharan (1976), Kalabaaz (1977), Mera Vachan Geeta Ki Qasam (1977), Ghar (1978), Devata (1978), Abdullah (1980), Dial 100 (1980), Hum Se Hai Zamana (1983) and Dayavan (1988).