How Asrani helped create his iconic 9-minute role of jailor modelled after Charlie Chaplin, Hitler in Sippy's Sholay

Asrani passed away at the age of 84 on October 20. Director Ramesh Sippy reflects on his famous jailor character from the 1975 film Sholay.

Veteran actor Asrani died at age 84 on Monday, October 20. While the actor has played varied roles through the years, the one that stands out the most has to be the ‘angrezon ke zamane ka jailor’ (jailor from the colonial era) in Ramesh Sippy’s 1975 hit Sholay. (Also Read: Iconic comedy star Asrani dead at 84: Angrezon Ke Zamane Ka Jailor rests in peace)

Asrani played a jailor fashioned after Charlie Chaplin and Hitler in Sholay, which starred Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan.

Despite having a screentime of less than 10 minutes, Asrani managed to make a mark while saying one of the most quotable dialogues like “jab hum nahi sudhar sakte to tum kya sudhroge’ (if I can’t be better, nor can you) on-screen. And if you’ve ever wondered how he landed the iconic role, here’s how it happened.

How Asrani landed the jailor role in Sholay

Sippy spoke to news agency PTI and condoled the death of the actor, remarking that he was ‘born to play’ the jailor in Sholay. Asrani’s character in the film was modelled after Charlie Chaplin’s role in The Great Dictator (1940), which was a spoof on German dictator Adolf Hitler. Sippy remarked that he first worked with Asrani in Seeta Aur Geeta (1972) and was impressed with his acting skills.

“Then Sholay came up, and this part was written by Salim-Javed (Salim Khan, Javed Akhtar), and they discussed it with me. We all thought Asrani would be the right person. We called him, discussed it with him. He was very happy to come and do this role. He was part of the creation of that character,” said the filmmaker, praising the actor for playing the character in the ‘most natural’ way.

Bringing the jailor to life

Sippy stated that Asrani’s character in Sholay will ‘never be forgotten’ for its satirical take on what Hitler is remembered for. He also credited Salim-Javed for coming up with ‘angrezon ke’ instead of ‘German’, which might not have landed the way it was intended. “It was improvised, and the shape in which it came out seemed to be the right form,” he said of the dialogue.

Sippy also noted that Asrani was crucial in fleshing out the pompous character as much as he, Salim and Javed were. “The way the four of us managed to bring out the character, then actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra ji in it, all together, it made the whole sequence unforgettable. The character is loud because the comedy is loud,” he added.