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.
Right since inception, Bollywood has attracted talent across India, including the interiors. They come to Mumbai with dream in their eyes and a passion to achieve stardom. Stars like Dharmendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar made it big in the industry, coming from humble non-film background
Recently, Manoj Bajpayee revealed that he hails from a small town in Bihar, which had limited facilities and even watching films was a luxury there. But he always aspired to be an actor and strived hard to gain his stand in Bollywood. A few years later, another guy from his neighbouring village followed his footsteps and we know him as Pankaj Tripathi today
Female actors too aren’t far behind and the best example we can give is Kangana Ranaut, who hails from a small town in Himachal and struggled hard to become the ‘Queen of Bollywood’ and is today, a Member of Parliament as well
Our today’s forgotten gem didn’t achieve great success like Kangana or Manoj, but is still a well-known face in Hindi movies, especially for Gen X grown on ’80s and ’90s Bollywood. Coming from a small town in Punjab, he made his own place in the film industry. We are talking about Gurbachan Singh
This handsome macho man was seen in practically every second film from the ’70s to the late ’90, where he would play the baddie and get beaten up by the hero. He invariably played the villain’s henchman, dacoit, rapist, smuggler to everything possibly bad
Gurbachan Singh was born in 1950 to Kartar Singh, a collector and Raj Kaur, a homemaker in remote Punjab. His father wanted him to follow his steps but Gurbachan wasn’t good at studies, preferring body building and secretly aspiring to be an actor. As a youngster, he was a famous wrestler in his village
Gurbachan started wresting at just sixteen years and had then defeated professional wrestler Tiger Jeet Singh. He also had wrestling match with Dara Singh’s brother Randhawa, who was also a big name, but lost that competition. Most of the leading newspapers had covered this news as a young wrestler Gurbachan was competing with such legendary wrestlers
Once, Gurbachan gathered courage and told his father Kartar Singh that he wanted to be an actor. He never imagined what could have been his father’s reaction. Those days, superstar Dharmendra’s younger brother Ajit Singh Deol (father of Abhay Deol) was working at Gurdaspur station. Kartar Singh knew Ajit well and requested him to put in a good word for Gurbachan. Ajit Singh wrote a recommendation letter and Gurbachan left for Bombay (now Mumbai) to try his luck in films
Once in Bombay, Gurbachan started meeting movie stalwarts like Dara Singh, Dev Anand and director Raj Khosla for work but didn’t get the right help. In fact, the kind hearted Dara Singh advised him to make a career in wrestling and not join films as it is a bad world. Gurbachan wasn’t convinced and finally, met Dharmendra handing him the recommendation letter
When Dharmendra found that Gurbachan doesn’t have a proper shelter in Bombay, he gave him a place in his own home. Gurbachan shifted his belongings from Dara Singh’s garage to Dharmendra’s abode, who took him under his fold
Soon enough, Gurbachan Singh started working as a body double for top actors like Dilip Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Dev Anand and Dharmendra. Once, actor-director Feroz Khan joked with Dharmendra that you guys are not just getting actors from your villages but body doubles as well!! Of course, being a body double wasn’t easy for Gurbachan and he would sustain a lot of injuries during the stunts
Finally, Gurbachan got his much-coveted acting break with the 1973 Raj Khosla directed dacoit drama Kachche Dhaage, in which he played a small role of a dacoit. Over the next few years, he portrayed small roles in movies, which went unnoticed
The major turning point in Gurbachan Singh’s career came in 1977 with Raj Sippy’s Inkaar, which had the chartbuster song ‘Mungda’ performed by Helen. Gurbachan Singh is shown relishing Helen’s dance just before his fight with the film’s villain Amjad Khan. The item number along with the action sequence became Inkaar’s highlight and it became a box office hit. Gurbachan Singh got the due recognition he truly deserved
By this time, Gurbachan became friendly with noted fight master Veeru Devgan, who kept him as his assistant. Film offers started pouring in by the dozen and Gurbachan ended up doing more than two hundred fifty movies as an actor in his career spanning four decades. He was a well-known face in Bollywood but not many viewers knew his name as he never played the lead villain or a principal supporting character.
In his long career, Gurbachan Singh has been bashed up on screen by big stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Govinda, Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and many more. Two of his most memorable films are Mr. Natwarlal (1979), where he played Amjad Khan’s aide and Mr. India (1987), where he played the one-eyed Captain Zorro.
A regular in the film industry since ’70s; Gurbachan Singh played a negative character in nearly all his movies. His only non-villainous role was in Dharmesh Darshan’s Mela (2000), in which he played a jovial local Dhaba owner. Gurbachan was regular in most Dharmendra as well as Amjad Khan movies.
In the new millennium, the movie making business underwent a transformation where the need for henchmen and fighters reduced significantly. The movie plots blurred the difference between an anti-hero and pure villain and stars started playing negative characters as well. Naturally, Gurbachan Singh had to shift to small or B grade films to keep his ‘choola’ burning. Most of these B films released in small centres and generally went unnoticed by the trade.
Gurbachan was part of Mithun Chakraborty’s Ooty films which were successful in the interiors of North India and Bengal. He was also a part of a non-starter titled Yeh Mohabbat Hai (2002) released with newcomers Rahul Bhat and Akansha Malhotra, in which he played a full-fledged positive role.
Though Gurbachan’s acting assignments reduced substantially by 2000s, he continued behind the camera in the action department. He made an acting comeback in a small role with the three Deols (Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby) in Yamla Pagla Deewana (2011). The film was a surprise box office success. Gurbachan had aged by this time and couldn’t do fight scenes. Nevertheless, he played small supporting roles in films like Tell Me O Khuda (2011) and Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 (2013), both associated with the Deol family. His last appearance was in Jhootha Kahi Ka (2019), which went unnoticed.
Today, Gurbachan lives in Mumbai with his wife Gurinder and their children and is happy with whatever he has achieved in Bollywood. He remains close to the Deol family and has huge regard and respect for his mentor Dharmendra.
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All images courtesy Internet
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