Sholay director Ramesh Sippy turns 76th today; know some interesting things related to his life

Digital Desk: The director of Sholay, Ramesh Sippy, turns 76 today. He was born on 23 January 1947 in India. Ramesh is a Hindi film producer, actor, and director from India. He is most known for directing the iconic Indian movie Sholay (1975), which is considered to be one of the most influential movies ever made. He was given the Padma Shri award by the Indian government in 2013.

Ramesh Sippy, the son of Sippy's father, producer G. P. Sippy, has been married twice; Kiran Juneja is his present spouse. From his first marriage to Geeta, he has three kids. Rohan Sippy, his son, is a director.  Before their 2004 divorce, their daughter Sheena briefly married Kunal Kapoor, the son of Shashi Kapoor.

He directed the 1975 film Sholay, which starred Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, and Amjad Khan in the title role of the dacoit Gabbar Singh. The Sholay movie became the largest box office hit in Bollywood history. One of the most recognisable movies in Hindi film history and a favourite of Hindi film audiences worldwide is Sholay.

When Ramesh Sippy was 6 years old, he went to see the sets of his father's first movie, Saja. His first "work" in a movie came when he was nine years old and played Achala Sachdev's son in the 1953 movie Shahenshah. While his father was making movies like Johar-Mehmood and Mere Sanam in Goa, he worked in both the producing and directing departments.

Before taking over as the director of the 1971 box office hit Andaz, which featured Shammi Kapoor, Hema Malini, and Rajesh Khanna, he spent 7 years working as an assistant. Hema Malini portrayed two roles in his second movie, Seeta Aur Geeta (1972), which was a huge hit and catapulted Malini to prominence. With his subsequent film, Shimla Mirchi, he made a comeback to directing after a 20-year absence. It took five years before the movie was finally released. It was finally made available on Netflix in January 2020.