Sanjay Jog

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.

Indians often refer to two best friends as Jai-Veeru from the iconic blockbuster Sholay (1975). In a similar way, brothers who are very close to each other are compared to Shri Ram and Laxman from the immortal Hindu epic Ramayana. But apart from Laxman, Lord Ram also had two more brothers – Bharat and Shatrughna – who are not that talked about in common parlance.

Most of our readers would have seen Ramanand Sagar’s TV adaptation Ramayan either during its initial 1987 run or more recently during the 2020 Covid lockdown. The actors playing Lord Ram and Laxman – Arun Govil and Sunil Lahiri- got immense name and fame after its release but the character of Bharat played by actor Sanjay Jog, is not remembered so much. We would like to put the spotlight on this actor today through our forgotten gems’ series.

Before playing Bharat in Ramayan, Sanjay Jog had acted in many Marathi and Gujarati movies. He had a charming personality with natural blue eyes but still, couldn’t make it big in Bollywood.

Sanjay Jog was born on 24th September, 1955 in a middle-class Maharashtrian family in Nagpur. His family was into farming and he aspired to be an Air Force pilot, but his parents were against it as they had lost few relatives during the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

Sanjay was a bright student and completed his school education in Nagpur and later, shifted to Mumbai for higher studies and joined the prestigious Elphinstone College, where completed his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree.

After his graduation, Sanjay took up an acting course at Filmalaya Studio, Mumbai. He was lucky enough to get a Marathi film offer at a young age of just twenty years. His first movie was Sapla (Trap), which released in 1976. Sanjay Jog starred opposite Anupama in it, with veteran actor Ramesh Deo playing the main antagonist.

Sanjay Jog must be surely overjoyed to get such an early break in movies but unfortunately, Sapla was a box office failure and a distressed and broke Sanjay decided to return back to his village.

Back home, Sanjay started doing farming and had no intentions of returning back to films. However, destiny brought him back to Mumbai after a few years. Interestingly, he visited Mumbai for some farming related work but during his stay here, an offer came his way in form of another Marathi film Zidd (1980) opposite Marathi star Usha Chavan. The movie had an ensemble cast of biggies like Nilu Phule, Dr. Shreeram Lagoo and Jayshree Gadkar. Zidd was a commercial success and suddenly, Sanjay started getting more offers which he couldn’t reject and so, decided to stay on and pursue his acting career in Mumbai.

Sanjay Jog went on to act in many Marathi films, which were also successful at the box office. These movies include Gondhalat Gondhal (1981), Aavhan (1982), Mai Baap (1982), Sage Soyre (1984) and Savitrichi Soon (1982). He was credited as Ashwin Jog in Savitrichi Soon. Until the mid ’80s, Sanjay appeared in more successful films like Navri Mile Navryala (1984) and Aamhi Doghe Raja Rani (1986).

Around the same time, Jog did a devotional Gujarati film Maya Bazaar (1984), which dealt with the conflict between the Pandavas and Kauravas. He played the character of Abhimanyu in it opposite legends like Dara Singh and Jayshree Gadkar. His other Gujarati film Dikri Chale Sasriye (1985) in which he played an anti-hero, remains one of his biggest hits.

Sanjay Jog was appearing in successful Marathi and Gujarati movies but sadly, none of them were beneficial for his career as the credit invariably went to other cast members and he was getting dismissed as just another character artist.

While filming Maya Bazaar, Sanjay’s make-up man Gopal Dada told him about the veteran producer- director Ramanand Sagar making a TV serial on Ramayan for Doordarshan. He advised Sanjay to meet Sagar for a potential role.

Taking the advice, Sanjay met Ramanand Sagar, who had already seen his pictures of Abhimanyu and instantly selected him to play the pivotal character of Lord Laxman. But surprisingly, Sanjay Jog choose to play Bharat instead. The reason he cited is that somehow, Bharat is not so revered and worshipped like Shri Ram and Laxman. But he also made lot of sacrifices for his elder brother Shri Ram.

Expectedly, Ramayan became a huge success and streets would be deserted in entire India when it would be telecast every Sunday at 9 am. The sensitive character of Bharat struck a chord with the audience and people started recognizing Sanjay as Ramanyan’s Bharat. In fact, the Bharat Milap episode, where he meets Lord Ram (Arun Govil) in the forest, brought tears in the viewers eyes.

Following Ramayan’s success, Sanjay Jog got offers in Hindi and he made his Bollywood debut with Apna Ghar (1989), almost thirteen years after his actual acting debut in Marathi. One of his earlier films titled Jigarwala, a long-delayed venture started in 1982 with then newcomer Anil Kapoor and Tina Munim, limped to theatres in 1991.