RAMESH SIPPY

RAMESH SIPPY - Film Director/Producer

Ramesh Sippy - (born 23 January 1947 Karachi, British India) His father was producer G. P. Sippy.

He visited the sets of the film Sazaa, his father's first film, when he was 6 years old. His first film job came when he was 9 years old, when he played Achala Sachdev's son in Shahenshah. He worked in both the production and direction departments in films like Johar-Mehmood in Goa and Mere Sanam, which his father was producing. He worked for 7 years as an assistant before becoming the director of Andaz, in 1971. Although this was only a moderate success, his second film Seeta Aur Geeta (1972) was highly successful. 

In 1975 he directed Sholay which went on to become the biggest blockbuster in Bollywood film history and won lots of acclaim. Sholay still remains one of the biggest blockbuster films in Hindi film history and remains one of the favourites for Hindi film audiences globally. The film is notable for the memorable performance of the late actor Amjad Khan in the legendary villain role of Gabbar Singh. While Sholay was a tribute to Westerns, his next film Shaan in 1980 was inspired by the James Bond films. This film was notable for the villain Shakaal (portrayed by Kulbhushan Kharbanda) who was inspired by the James Bond villain Blofeld. In 1982 he brought together veteran actor Dilip Kumar and the current superstar of the time Amitabh Bachchan in Shakti. While the film was only moderately successful, it won the Filmfare Best Movie Award. In 1985 he directed Saagar which was considered a comeback film for Dimple Kapadia.

He directed a successful television serial titled Buniyaad which focused on the India and Pakistan Partition and originally aired on Indian television channel Doordarshan in 1987. The last three films he directed, Bhrashtachar (1989), Akayla (1991), and Zamana Deewana (1995) were box office flops and he has since not directed any film.

His string of hits with Amitabh made him one of the golden directors who had a special working relationship with Amitabh Bachchan (Yash Chopra, Prakash Mehra, Manmohan Desai, and Hrishikesh Mukherjee being the other four). 

He has since produced films directed by his son Rohan Sippy which were Kuch Naa Kaho (2003), Bluffmaster (2005) and Dum Maro Dum (2011). In 2006 he produced Taxi No. 9211 which was directed by Milan Luthria. In 2008 he produced Kunaal Roy Kapur's The President is Coming as well as the Akshay Kumar-Deepika Padukone film, Chandni Chowk to China, directed by Nikhil Advani.

In 2005 he received the Filmfare Best Film of 50 Years award for his legendary film, Sholay.

Ramesh Sippy has been married twice; his current wife is actress Kiran Juneja. His son Rohan Sippy is also a film director. His daughter Sheena Sippy is married to Shashi Kapoor's son – Kunal Kapoor.