Amjad Khan (actor)

Amjad Khan was born in Bombay, Bombay State, British India on 12 November 1940 into a family of Khalil Pashtuns descent to actor Jayant, who was originally from Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan).{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-amjad-khan-1542614.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512052212/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-amjad-khan-1542614.html |archive-date=2015-05-12 |url-access=limited |url-status=dead|title=Obituary: Amjad Khan|work=The Independent newspaper|date=26 August 1992|access-date=11 October 2023|quote=The son of Zakaria Khan, a Pathan from the North-West Frontier Province and popular Bollywood character actor of the Fifties and Sixties (screen name Jayant), Amjad Khan was born in Bombay in 1940.}}{{cite web |url=https://www.cinemaazi.com/people/jayant-1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203095518/https://www.cinemaazi.com/people/jayant-1 |archive-date=3 December 2020 |title=actor Jayant profile (Amjad Khan's father)|website=Cinemaazi.com website}}{{cite web |url=https://www.gatewayhouse.in/khans-hindi-film-industry/ |title=The Khans of Bombay's Hindi film industry – Gateway House |access-date=11 October 2023|archive-date=22 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200422014410/https://www.gatewayhouse.in/khans-hindi-film-industry/ |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=https://newsleadindia.com/when-amjad-khan-had-broken-the-promise-made-to-allah-he-used-to-say-that-i-got-his-punishment/|title=When Amjad Khan had 'broken' the promise made to Allah, he used to say that I got his punishment- Newslead India|date=12 November 2021|access-date=12 October 2023|archive-date=28 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228171931/https://newsleadindia.com/when-amjad-khan-had-broken-the-promise-made-to-allah-he-used-to-say-that-i-got-his-punishment/|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://dailyindia.net/when-amjad-khan-had-broken-the-promise-made-to-allah-he-used-to-say-that-i-got-his-punishment/24467/|title=When Amjad Khan had 'broken' the promise made to Allah, he used to say that I got his punishment|date=12 November 2021|access-date=11 October 2023|archive-date=28 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228181950/https://dailyindia.net/when-amjad-khan-had-broken-the-promise-made-to-allah-he-used-to-say-that-i-got-his-punishment/24467/|website=DailyIndia.net website|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url =https://swapnilsansar.org/jayant-3/|title = Jayant profile (Amjad Khan's father)|date = 2 June 2020|access-date = 12 October 2023|archive-date = 28 December 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211228171916/https://swapnilsansar.org/jayant-3/|website=Swapnil Sansar website|url-status =dead}} His younger brother Imtiaz Khan was also an actor.

Amjad Khan was educated at St. Andrew's High School in Bandra. He then attended R. D. National College where he held the position of general secretary. During his college and school days, he worked as a theater artist and performed in his college with his brother. Later, he earned his master's in philosophy (first class) from Bombay University and used to win prizes both as actor and as director at the inter-collegiate theatre festivals.{{Cite web |last=John |first=Ali Peter |date=31 July 2018 |title=Remembering Amjad Khan: The Man, the Artist, The Philosopher |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/remembering-amjad-khan-man-artist-philosopher/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250411144134/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/remembering-amjad-khan-man-artist-philosopher/ |archive-date=11 April 2025 |website=Bollywood Hungama |quote=Amjad was a strange combination of a brilliant student who did his M.A in a difficult subject like Philosophy and got a first class from the Bombay University and who won all the major prizes as an actor and director in inter-collegiate theatre festivals.}} Apart from English and Urdu, Amjad Khan was also fluent in Persian, having done another master's in Persian literature, and he would help his wife for her exams in this subject.{{Cite web |last=Farook |first=Farhana |date=8 April 2018 |title=Late Amjad Khan's wife talks about his death & more |url=https://www.filmfare.com/features/late-amjad-khans-wife-talks-about-dealing-with-the-death-of-her-husband-and-his-glorious-career-27539.html |website=Filmfare |quote=[Amjad Khan's wife] “Amjad had done his Masters in Persian, which was my second language too. So he’d teach me Persian,” says she.}}

{{Main|Amjad Khan filmography and awards}}

Before Amjad Khan came to films, he was a theatre actor. His first role was as a child actor at the age of 11 in the film Nazneen in 1951. His next role was at the age of 17 in the film Ab Dilli Dur Nahin (1957). He assisted K. Asif in the film Love And God in the late 1960s and had a brief appearance in the film. The film was left incomplete after Asif's death in 1971, and it was finally released in 1986. In 1973, he appeared in Hindustan Ki Kasam in a small role.

In 1975, Khan was offered the role of dacoit Gabbar Singh for the film Sholay by one of its writers, Salim Khan. In preparation for the role, he read Abhishapth Chambal, a book on Chambal dacoits written by Taroon Kumar Bhaduri (actress Jaya Bhaduri's father). Sholay went on to become a blockbuster.

After the success of Sholay, Khan continued to play negative roles in many subsequent Hindi films in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s – superseding, in terms of popularity and demand, the earlier Indian actor, Ajit. He often acted as villain opposite Amitabh Bachchan as the hero. His role in Inkaar was also presented in terrifying manner. He made his presence felt in Des Pardes, Nastik, Satte Pe Satta, Chambal Ki Kasam, Ganga Ki Saugandh, Hum Kisise Kum Nahin and Naseeb.{{cite web|url=http://citwf.com/person500819.htm |url-status=dead|title=Amjad Khan filmography|website=Complete Index To World Film (CITWF) website|archive-date=20 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160420170550/http://citwf.com/person500819.htm|access-date=11 October 2023}}

Khan was also acclaimed for playing many unconventional roles. In the critically acclaimed film Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977) (based on the novel of the same title), by Munshi Premchand and directed by Satyajit Ray, Khan played the helpless and deluded monarch Wajid Ali Shah, whose kingdom, Avadh, is being targeted by British colonialists from the British East India Company. It is the only movie in which he dubbed a song. In 1979, he portrayed Emperor Akbar in the film Meera. He played many positive roles such as in Yaarana (1981) and Laawaris (1981) as Amitabh's friend and father respectively, Rocky (1981) and Commander (1981). In the art film Utsav (1984), he portrayed Vatsayana, the author of the Kama Sutra. In 1988, he appeared in the Merchant Ivory English language film The Perfect Murder as an underworld don. He excelled at playing comical characters in films such as Qurbani (1980), Love Story and Chameli Ki Shaadi (1986). In 1991, he reprised his role as Gabbar Singh in Ramgarh Ke Sholay, a parody of the legendary film which included look-alikes of Dev Anand and Amitabh Bachchan.

He ventured into directing for a brief period in the 1980s, directing and starring in Chor Police (1983) and Ameer Aadmi Gareeb Aadmi (1985), both of the films did not do well at the box office.

Amjad was the president of the Actors Guild Association.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

In 1972, he married Shaila Khan, the daughter of Urdu poet and screenwriter Akhtar ul Iman,{{Cite web |date=12 February 2014 |title='Writing is in my blood' |url=https://www.pressreader.com/india/deccan-chronicle/20140212/282595965806530?srsltid=AfmBOoppu8KXSY7nz8x7RRlnRISmpKUoOqMvgFoEnozllQxA5salZ9Gi |website=The Deccan Chronicle |quote=My maternal grandfather, Akhtar ul Iman, was a very famous writer who penned films like Ittefaq and. Waqt.}} and in the following year, she gave birth to their first child, Shadaab Khan, who would later join the entertainment industry. He also had a daughter, Ahlam Khan, an actress and screenwriter,{{Cite web |title=Meet Ahlam Khan, the beautiful daughter of 'Gabbar' Amjad Khan |url=https://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/photo-gallery-meet-ahlam-khan-karachiwala-the-beautiful-daughter-of-gabbar-sholay-actor-amjad-khan-2891929/bollywood/photo-gallery-meet-ahlam-khan-karachiwala-the-beautiful-daughter-of-gabbar-sholay-actor-amjad-khan-2891929/one-of-the-most-glamorous-theatre-artists-2891930 |website=DNA India}} and another son, Seemab Khan, who is a club cricketer.{{Cite web |last=Rizvi |first=Taus |date=11 August 2019 |title=Weight of selection: Amjad Khan's son Seemab Khan to Rahkeem Cornwall |url=https://www.dnaindia.com/cricket/report-weight-of-selection-amjad-khan-s-son-seemab-khan-to-rahkeem-cornwall-2780772 |website=DNA India}} Ahlam married popular theatre actor Zafar Karachiwala in 2011.{{cite news| url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-23/news-interviews/30189894_1_mustan-abbas-theatre | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054212/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-23/news-interviews/30189894_1_mustan-abbas-theatre | url-status=dead | archive-date=21 September 2013 | work=The Times of India | title=Zafar Karachiwala, Ahlam Khan got married | date=23 September 2011}}{{Cite web|url=https://thedailyeye.info/post.php?id=d0aedf394512ad3b&title=Born-to-act%3A-Ahlam-Khan-Karachiwala|title=Born to act: Ahlam Khan Karachiwala|access-date=28 December 2021|archive-date=28 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228171916/https://thedailyeye.info/post.php?id=d0aedf394512ad3b&title=Born-to-act:-Ahlam-Khan-Karachiwala|url-status=live}}

Amjad Khan was fond of literature and philosophy, having studied the subject, often quoting English poets such as Keats, Byron, Wordsworth, Shelley as well ancient Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle.{{Cite web |last=Farook |first=Farhana |date=27 July 2021 |title=Sports-freak & filmy legend Amjad 'Gabbar' Khan's weight gain triggered his downfall |url=https://sg.style.yahoo.com/tragic-tale-amjad-khan-sports-freak-weight-gain-downfall-075846215.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALmvZv9GwB7SW1AmpLxb5GgSSMVwhUAiOKVwSYm1y9AREbu8H8ua7b6YqgcsyrZic3Nk2xdh5c2izIxuUBlhpRDNHtP36X0pFpJY_-tv3142qRkb2kdtDm6QClBpaDQzt3iLTz99y2rosJeOhAWF_w8VDPKMKPCOhGoYvLKUyo27 |website=Yahoo News}}

On 15 October 1976,{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Taste-of-own-medicine/articleshow/13797171.cms |title=Tragic Nostalgia |newspaper=The Times of India |date=4 June 2012 |access-date=25 March 2017 |archive-date=14 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180914102914/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Taste-of-own-medicine/articleshow/13797171.cms |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.filmfare.com/features/i-was-confident-my-marriage-would-never-break-9984-3.html |title="I was confident my marriage would never break" |newspaper=Filmfare |date=27 July 2015 |access-date=25 March 2017 |archive-date=26 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326050405/http://www.filmfare.com/features/i-was-confident-my-marriage-would-never-break-9984-3.html |url-status=live }} Amjad Khan met with a serious accident on the Mumbai-Goa highway which left him with broken ribs and a punctured lung. He was going to participate in the shooting of the film The Great Gambler, starring Amitabh Bachchan.{{cite news |url=http://www.navhindtimes.in/amitabh-goa-connect/ |title=Amitabh and the Goa Connect |newspaper=The Navhind Times |date=19 November 2014 |access-date=25 March 2017 |archive-date=9 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009151620/http://www.navhindtimes.in/amitabh-goa-connect/ |url-status=live }}

Amjad Khan was passionate about badminton and bull-work but, following another accident, he was diagnosed with Bell's palsy in 1984. This led to a course of steroid treatment which, combined with his poor eating habits, caused excessive weight gain that negatively affected both his health and his film career.

On 27 July 1992, he died of a heart attack. He was 51. His death was attributed to a myocardial infarction.

{{reflist}}

{{Portal|Bollywood|India}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0451166|name=Amjad Khan}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130514142836/http://thedu.in/biography/amjad-khan Amjad Khan biography] (archived 14 May 2013)

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Category:1940 births

Category:1992 deaths

Category:Indian male film actors

Category:Film directors from Mumbai

Category:Pashtun actors

Category:Indian people of Pashtun descent

Category:Male actors in Hindi cinema

Category:Hindi-language film directors

Category:20th-century Indian male actors

Category:Filmfare Awards winners