Sanjeev Kumar (born Haribhai Jariwala; 9 July 1938 – 6 November 1985) was an Indian film actor who worked predominantly in Hindi cinema. Known for his understated performances and versatility, he is regarded as one of the finest character and lead actors of the 1970s. He won the National Film Award for Best Actor twice, for Dastak (1970) and Koshish (1972), and earned wide acclaim for roles in films such as Khilona, Aandhi, Sholay, Mausam, Trishul, Angoor and Pati Patni Aur Woh.
| Birth name | Haribhai Jethalal Jariwala |
|---|---|
| Screen name | Sanjeev Kumar |
| Born | 9 July 1938, Surat, Gujarat |
| Died | 6 November 1985, Mumbai, Maharashtra |
| Cause of death | Cardiac arrest |
| Community | Gujarati |
| Occupation | Film actor |
| Active years | 1960–1985 (with posthumous releases until 1993) |
| Major awards | National Film Award for Best Actor (1970, 1972); Filmfare Awards |
| Training | Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA); Filmalaya School |
Sanjeev Kumar was born into a Gujarati family in Surat. He moved to Bombay early in life and developed an interest in theatre, joining the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), where he performed in Gujarati and Hindi stage productions. He later trained at the Filmalaya acting school under Sashadhar Mukherjee. While in his early twenties, he gained attention for portraying older characters on stage, including a notable performance as the elderly protagonist in a stage adaptation of Arthur Miller's All My Sons.
He made his film debut with a small role in Hum Hindustani (1960). His first lead role came in Nishaan (1965). Through the mid-1960s he appeared in modestly budgeted films such as Husn Aur Ishq, Smuggler and Gunehgaar. His breakthrough came with Sangharsh (1968), opposite Dilip Kumar, where his presence was widely noticed by critics and the trade.
The early 1970s established Sanjeev Kumar as a leading actor. Khilona (1970), in which he played a man recovering from mental breakdown, was one of the year's biggest hits. The same year, Rajinder Singh Bedi's Dastak brought him the National Film Award for Best Actor. Gulzar's Koshish (1972), in which he portrayed a deaf-mute man alongside Jaya Bhaduri, won him a second National Award. He worked frequently with Gulzar, including in Aandhi (1975) and Mausam (1975), the latter winning him the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.
In Ramesh Sippy's Sholay (1975), he played the disabled retired police officer Thakur Baldev Singh, a role that became iconic in Hindi cinema. He featured in major commercial successes including Trishul (1978), Pati Patni Aur Woh (1978), Griha Pravesh (1979) and Silsila (1981). His double role in Gulzar's Angoor (1982), based on Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, is considered among the finest comic performances in Indian cinema.
Despite chronic heart trouble, he continued working through the early 1980s in films such as Vidhaata (1982), Namkeen (1982) and Hero (1983). Several of his films were released after his death, including Professor Ki Padosan and Professor Pyarelal. The film Qatl Ki Raat (1989) and others continued to appear posthumously, with the last release reportedly in the early 1990s.
Sanjeev Kumar was noted for portraying characters considerably older than his actual age, beginning in his twenties. He moved fluidly between mainstream commercial cinema and parallel art-house films, working with directors such as Gulzar, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Ramesh Sippy, Yash Chopra, B. R. Chopra, Basu Bhattacharya and Basu Chatterjee. His performances were marked by restraint, naturalism and an ability to underplay strong emotion, qualities that distinguished him from the more theatrical leading men of his era.
Sanjeev Kumar never married. He had a long association with the Jariwala family, and his nephews continued in the film industry after his death. He suffered from a hereditary heart condition that affected several members of his family, and underwent bypass surgery in the United States in the 1970s.
He died of a heart attack on 6 November 1985 in Mumbai at the age of 47. At the time of his death, several of his films were incomplete; many were finished and released over the following years.