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.
When director Mansoor Khan took over the baton of Nasir Hussain films, he delivered the blockbuster hit Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (QSQT) in 1988. A few years later, he planned another movie with his cousin and QSQT star Aamir Khan. Titled Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992), the film was a college sports drama loosely modelled on the Archie comics.
Today, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (JJWS in short) is a cult classic fondly remembered for its pulsating cycle race, mischievous Aamir Khan, cute and pretty Ayesha Jhulka, the super sexy Pooja Bedi, the rich arrogant brat Deepak Tijori and of course its evergreen romantic number ‘Pehla Nasha’. One more character, which remains fresh in audience mind is Aamir Khan’s elder brother Ratan, played by actor Mamik. This character created such an impact that even today, Mamik is referred as Aamir Khan’s brother from JJWS
But what happened to Mamik’s promising career after this success? What caused his downfall? How did Mamik lose the race of Bollywood just like his character loses the cycle race in JJWS? Let’s find out.
Mamik was born as Harmeet Singh Mamik on 3rd February, 1963 in Mumbai to a Punjabi family with no Bollywood connection. After entering films, he cut short his name to Mamik, which is his last name. He had all the qualities of the proverbial Hindi movie hero and entered the industry when both romantic and action movies were the order of the day
Mamik was always a handsome guy with towering personality. After completing his education, he joined an advertising agency and started modelling. Soon enough, he became a top model of the late ’80s and started getting films offers as well. However, Mamik declined these offers as he wanted to start his acting career with a big banner
In the early ’90s, Mansoor Khan formally announced JJWS with Aamir Khan as the lead hero. At that time, Aditya Pancholi was selected to play Aamir’s elder brother. Due to undisclosed reason, Pancholi was dropped from the film later and Mamik came on board
JJWS released in the summer of ’92 and became a box office success, performing exceptionally well in the main cities of India. Mamik became a household name for playing the kind hearted and mature brother of Aamir Khan, whose only wish is to win the annual cycle race for his school and fulfil his father’s cherished dream. His character named Ratan invariably, plays saviour to his slightly immature and naughty younger brother (Aamir Khan). Mamik was paired opposite Kalpana Zaveri, where they both got to appear in the romantic track ‘Pehla Nasha’.
After JJWS, Mamik started getting only character roles but he refused to get typecast. He always aspired to be the lead hero and ended up declining all these films, resulting in no work for years. It was then Mamik realised that nobody was ready to give him good roles in Bollywood and therefore, he switched to television serials and did popular shows like Champion, Yug, Kanoon, Saturday Suspense, Sadma, Chandrakanta, Betaal Pachisi, Woh and Rishtey. Out of these, Chandrakanta, Woh and Yug became highly popular and Mamik received due appreciation for his performance. But even in those times, he would be referred as Aamir’s brother from JJWS
Around the same time, Mamik decided to make a comeback to Hindi films. His next release after JJWS was Ketan Mehta’s crime thriller Aar Ya Paar (1997), in which he played the heroine Deepa Sahi’s boyfriend. Aar Ya Paar, though critically acclaimed, bombed at the box office and couldn’t help Mamik’s career at all
The same year, Mamik worked in two more films: Dil Ke Jharoke Main and Koi Kisise Kum Nahin. Both these films sank without a trace. Three years later in 2000, he was seen in a small role in Kundan Shah’s Kya Kehna (2000) as the elder brother of the lead heroine Priety Zinta. Though Kya Kehna was an average success, Preity and Saif Ali Khan got all the credit and no one noticed Mamik
After Kya Kehna, Mamik disappeared from Bollywood for almost a decade but he remained active on television and one of his popular shows was the horror fantasy Sssh…Koi Hai and Vikraal Aur Gabraal, where he and his assistant Gabru (K.K Goswami) fight the evil forces in their own different style. This show became quite popular on Star Plus channel.
Mamik was doing reasonably well as a TV actor but unfortunately, he fell in to bad company and got addicted to drugs. This not only ruined his acting career but also separated him from his wife Sandhya in 2008, when she ended their ten-year-old marriage. Mamik realised his folly and decided to give up his vices and bounce back
In 2010, Mamik made another comeback to films, almost a decade after Kya Kehna, with the horror flick Mallika. Directed by Wilson Louis, Mamik played the main antagonist and had a meaty role in this movie. Sadly, the low budget Malika was a box office washout and another good performance of Mamik went totally unnoticed.
Mamik never shied away from TV series and was getting good work there. In 2011, he appeared in Kahaani Chandrakanta Ki, which was a sequel to the iconic series Chandrakanta. But unlike the original, the new show could not survive long and was taken off air within a few months due to underwhelming TRPs.
In 2016, Mamik played a pivotal role in Do Lafzon Ki Kahani as the boxing coach of its lead hero Randeep Hooda. The film was directed by his JJWS co-actor Deepak Tijori and couldn’t do that well at the ticket counters. Mamik’s next release was Bell Bottom (2021), in which he played the hero Akshay Kumar’s brother. Bell Bottom suffered due to a hybrid release in midst of the Covid pandemic and bombed at the box office.
Mamik got promising roles throughout his movie career but couldn’t build a fruitful innings in Bollywood as most of his films flopped and he also took long breaks in between his movies. His filmography is highly inconsistent and spaced out over three decades.
In 2021, Mamik was a part of Hansal Mehta’s highly acclaimed web-series Scam 1992, which was based on the Harshad Mehta securities scam. Mamik’s character was based on the Chief Executive of Citibank. Interestingly, he had a line “Hope you are carrying your credit card” and then gets a counter reply. “This is India and only cash works here” resonating with the ’90s era, when hardly anyone used credit or debit cards and only cash was the king.
In his personal life, Mamik later married Meenakshi Sagar, grand-daughter of the illustrious filmmaker Ramanand Sagar in 2018 and is still active on TV and web-series. His JJWS character is still fresh in everyone’s mind and by now, even Mamik is used to being referred as Ratan, the elder brother of Aamir Khan
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All images courtesy Internet
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