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.
The character of hero’s friend has been an integral part of Bollywood right since the golden era. The legendary Guru Dutt’s real life buddy Johnny Walker was always his on-screen friend; Shammi Kapoor’s films would invariably have Rajendra Nath as his close pal and later, Johnny Lever made the same bonding with Govinda. Even in recent times, we see Sahil Vaid play Varun Dhawan’s best friend in quite a few movies.
One more actor who easily filled in this hero’s friend space was Deepak Tijori. He was indeed the go-to-guy in the ‘90s whenever the hero needed a buddy to rely on!!
Born on 28th August 1961 as Deepak Tijoriwala in Mumbai (then Bombay) in a Sindhi family, Deepak completed his education at Narsee Monjee College where he joined an amateur theatre group. It is said that future stalwarts like Aamir Khan, Paresh Rawal, Ashutosh Gowariker and Vipul Shah were also the members of this performing group. Deepak had good features and a few of his friends asked him to consider an acting career. He got influenced by them and decided to enter the glamour world but it wasn’t easy for him in absence of a godfather. Tijori knocked on doors of many top producers and would wait for hours outside their offices for a break in Bollywood.
Deepak managed to get some TV serials; one of them was popular Idhar Udhar in 1985 which had Pathak sisters – Supriya and Ratna playing the lead. Few years later, he finally managed to sign a film called Parbat Ke Us Paar (1988) which had Abhinav Chaturvedi in the lead. Deepak had a special appearance in this movie and it was the only time he used his real name Deepak Tijoriwala. Parbat Ke Us Paar didn’t last a week in theatres and was quickly forgotten.
Two years later, Deepak Tijori signed his first big film titled Kroadh (1990) which had a stellar cast of Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, Sonam, Amrita Singh, Anupam Kher, Paresh Rawal and the Marathi star Yeshwant Dutt playing the main antagonist. Deepak’s role was that of the villain’s henchman and didn’t offer any acting scope. He hardly had any dialogues in the movie.
In the same year, Mahesh Bhatt released his romantic musical Aashiqui (1990) which had newcomers Rahul Roy and Anu Aggarwal playing the main leads. Aashiqui featured Deepak Tijori as Rahul Roy’s bestie who helps him unite with Anu. The movie became a box office superhit and the audience loved the character of Balu portrayed by Tijori. His unique hand gesture in the movie was copied by youngsters.
Riding on Aashiqui’s success, Deepak went on to sign significant movies like Afsana Pyar Ka (1991), Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991), Sadak (1991) and Kaun Kare Kurbanie (1991).
Mahesh Bhatt’s Sadak had him in a pivotal role again as the friend of hero Sanjay Dutt who dies while trying to save his girlfriend from the main villain’s brothel. In Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, he performed on the chartbuster song ‘Galiyat sakli sonyachi’. Both these films were super hits. On the other hand, Afsana Pyar Ka and Kaun Kare Kurbanie turned out to be box office duds. Nevertheless, Deepak Tijori had become a household name which was proved during Khiladi (1992) when its makers were banking heavily on him as their lead hero Akshay Kumar was a rank newcomer then.
In Khiladi, Deepak again played best friend of the hero Akshay Kumar who loves to place bets as well as uses an inhaler habitually. His character of Bonny was much appreciated by the audience. Just two weeks before Khiladi came Mansoor Khan’s Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992) where Deepak got to play a negative character of a spoilt brat Shekhar Malhotra from the elite Rajput College who shares deep rivalry with Model College’s Sanjay Lal (Aamir Khan). Both these films established Deepak Tijori as a bankable actor and soon enough, lead offers started coming his way.
Between 1993-1995, Deepak Tijori played the main lead in about eight films. His first film as a solo hero was Pehla Nasha (1993) directed by debutant director Ashutosh Gowariker in which he was paired opposite Pooja Bhatt and Raveena Tandon. Gowariker gave him a song in the film which had lyrics ‘Mr. Zero ban gaya hero’ probably to highlight his elevation as main hero but unfortunately, Pehla Nasha was a box office washout. His next few films as the lead were Santaan (1993), Aasoo Bane Angaarey (1993), Chhoti Bahoo (1994), Sarhad (1995) and the quite popular Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1994). Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa remains his only hit film as a hero though the film belonged to Shahrukh Khan in spite of Deepak winning the heroine in the climax.
After back-to-back flops as main lead, Deepak Tijori switched back to supporting roles. He did films like The Gentleman (1994), Naajayaz (1995), Prem (1995), Bal Bramhachari (1996) and Mrityudaata (1997). But none of these films benefitted his career. Around 1997, Deepak decided to try his hand in television but quickly switched back to films and signed some notable movies like Main Solah Baras Ki (1998), Ghulam (1998), Vaastav (1999), Baadshah (1999), Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge (2000), Hathyar (2002), Pyaar Diwana Hota Hai (2002) and Yeh Kaisi Mohabbat (2002).
Few of these films like Ghulam, Vaastav and Baadshah did well but sadly, couldn’t do much for Tijori’s career even though he had pivotal characters in them. Vikram Bhatt’s Ghulam proved to be most important milestone for him. Who can forget the famous train scene between him and Aamir Khan which revived the memories of their on-screen rivalry from Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar!
By early 2000’s, Deepak Tijori realized that audience wasn’t accepting him as an actor anymore as he was nearing his forties. He decided to re-invent himself and ventured in to direction with the controversial film Oops (2003) which he also produced. The film handled the unique topic of male strippers and had an ensemble cast of newcomers along with Mita Vashisht who played an attractive middle-aged lady having a torrid affair with one of these young strippers. The audience couldn’t accept such a bold subject and Oops came a cropper at the box office.
Two years later in 2005, Deepak made two back-to-back films with Shilpa Shetty. The first was Khamoshh…Khauff Ki Raat followed by Fareb. Khamoshh was loosely based on the Hollywood hit Identity (2003) while Fareb had shades of Fatal Attraction (1987). Both the films fared poorly at the ticket windows. Tijori didn’t lose hope and decided to make Tom Dick and Harry which had a plot similar to the blockbuster Marathi play ‘All The Best’ (1996). The film didn’t carry good reports but surprisingly did decent business at the box office. After getting an initial good response for Tom Dick and Harry, Deepak Tijori decided to throw a success party within two weeks of its release which was a rarity in those days. When a journalist questioned him about this early celebration, Deepak retorted that the time of jubilees is over and a film becomes hit today if it manages to survive in theatres for two weeks. The exact box office status of Tom Dick and Harry is still debatable! In the same year, Tijori also appeared as one of the contestants in Big Boss Season One along with his Aashiqui co-star Rahul Roy.
Later, Deepak Tijori directed films like Fox (2009) and Do Lafzon Ki Kahaani (2016) which weren’t commercially successful. He announced a sequel to Tom Dick and Harry but it hasn’t seen the light of the day yet. On the acting front, he made a comeback with films like Department (2012), Raja Natwarlal (2014) and Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3 (2018). In 2019, he made his web debut with Abhay on Zee5 which was based on 2006 Nithari killings where he essayed the character of Chander Singh based on the notorious Moninder Singh Pandher. He got a lot of appreciation for this role.
About his personal life, Deepak is married to Shivani Tijori who is sister of his Khiladi co-star Kunika Sadanand and actor director Kabir Sadanand. They have a daughter Samara Tijori who recently made her acting debut as Abhishek Bachchan’s daughter in Bob Biswas (2021).
Today, Deepak Tijori is very much active in films and web series and also continuing his hand at direction. He may not have made it big as a hero but the ‘90s kids still fondly remember him as the hero’s best friend!!
All images courtesy Internet
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