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A Pune Film Institute graduate, the scar-faced Shatrughan Sinha started his career with 'Saajan', where he had a misunderstanding with the heroine, Asha Parekh. Fortunately for the struggler, in 1970, Mumtaz recommended him for,'Khilona', a film which gave him his first taste of success and fame.
With his explosive dialogue delivery in, 'Mere Apne' in 1972, he impressed his co-stars and the audience alike. They realised that here was an actor to reckon with.His popularity reached unprecedented heights. He claims that filmmaker Manmohan Desai was forced to comply to the demands of the distributors and incoporate a reformation scene in 'Bhai Ho To Aisa', because "The public could no longer accept me as an outright villain".
This was followed by lead roles in films like 'Dost' in 1974, 'Kalicharan' in 1976 and 'Vishwanath' in 1978. Capitalising on his popularity, every major director rushed to cast him in their films. Films like Prakash Mehra's `Jwalamukhi`, Manmohan Desai's 'Naseeb', Ramesh Sippy's 'Shaan', Raj Khosla's 'Dostana' and Yash Chopra’s 'Kaala Patthar'. With the support of Amitabh's favourite scriptwriters, Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, Sinha catapulted to fame and he even tried to lay claim to Amitabh's mantle. This resulted in Amitabh refusing to work with him. However, after a brief, not-so-successful spell, his career was revived with films like 'Ilzaam', 'Aag Hi Aag' and 'Khudgarz'.
Sinha always was interested in politics and it was clear from his jokes, comments and barbs. Answering a question about where he hides his black money he would say, in the locker of Amitabh Bachchan as a telling comment on his rival who was close to the then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi and later to Rajiv Gandhi, and was never raided by IT department though other film stars often found them knocking at their doors.
Shatrughan Sinha became quiet vocal during the emergency period and became close to BJP. Not surprisingly, his entry in politics was as a BJPite and he finally made it as a Member of Parliament and then, as the Minister for Health.
However, his desire to rule his native state Bihar that he called his janambhoomi – Maharashtra being karambhoomi – remained unfulfilled as the professional politicians have always hated the ‘outsiders’.
Thanks to politics, films took a back seat and except for the exceptions like Aan made by people like Madhur Bhandarkar who use contacts like him for getting tax concessions and, more important, national awards Shatrughan Sinha is almost retired from films. He, however, remains an industry leader admonishing the likes of Aamir Khan for daring to speak out in favour of the idea to rehabilitate those affected because of dam on Narmada River.
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