G P Sippy

Veteran Indian filmmaker G P Sippy, who became a household name for producing one of Bollywood's biggest-ever hits in 1975, Sholay, died at his home in Mumbai at the age of 93 after a prolonged illness on December 26.
In a career spanning over half a century, Sippy, born in an affluent family in Hyderabad city (now in the Sindh province of Pakistan), produced 17 films and directed six of them and his major box office successes include Light House, Bhai Behn, Andaz and Seeta Aur Geeta.
Sippy tried his hand at selling carpets and construction business before stepping into the film industry in 1955 with the production of Hindi movie Marine Drive featuring Johnny Walker and Ajit which proved to be a hit. It was followed by Adil-e-Jahangir starring Meena Kumari and Pradeep Kumar.
Sipply's later productions included Brahmachari (1968), Bandhan (1969) Sagar (1985), Patthar Ke Phool (1991), Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992), Aatish (1992), Zamaana Deewana (1995) and Hamesha (1997).
Sippy set up his own production house whose first tryst of major Bollywood stars came in the 1965 film Mere Sanam featuring Bishwajeet and Asha Parekh.
Sippy's son Ramesh directed Andaz and Seeta Aur Geeta in 1971 and '72 respectively. Then came Sholay that catapulted him to countrywide fame in 1975.
Sholay made at a cost of Rs three crore -- the highest at that time in Bollywood -- proved a stupendous hit and earned nearly ten times the expenditure, a record that was broken by Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge after decades.
Featuring Bollywood superstars Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini and Jaya Bachchan, Sholay is a story about two small-time crooks played by Bachchan and Dharmendra who are recruited by a former police officer (Sanjeev Kumar) to fight a legendary bandit (immortalised by Amjad Khan).
G P Sippy had been the Chairman of the Film and TV Producers Guild of India four times since 1970 and won a number of film awards.
Sippy displayed a lot of courage in making Seeta Aur Geeta with the central role going to the heroine (Hema Malini) reducing Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar to supporting roles at a time when Bollywood could hardly think of a film centring a female character.