WATCH: When Amitabh Bachchan stood by Amjad Khan as family which deepened their friendship

Actor and director Amjad Khan has worked in over 130 films in a career spanning nearly twenty years. He enjoyed popularity for villainous roles in Hindi films, the most famous being the iconic Gabbar Singh in the 1975 classic Sholay and of Dilawar in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. His first role was in the film Nazneen in the year 1951. Amjad Khan was offered the role of dacoit Gabbar Singh for the film Sholay by Salim Khan, who was one of its writers. For the role, Amjad read Abhishapth Chambal, a book on Chambal dacoits written by Taroon Kumar Bhaduri. 

His portrayal of Gabbar Singh is considered by many to be the first depiction of pure evil in the Indian Cinema. His mannerisms and dialogues became an integral part of the Bollywood lexicon and spawned numerous parodies and spoofs. Especially the dialogue "Soja Nahi to Gabbar Aajayega". Sholay went on to become a blockbuster. Although it had an ensemble cast of superstars including Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad stole the show with his unorthodox and amazing dialogue delivery. Even to this day, people fondly remember his dialogues and mannerisms. 

Amjad Khan was not only an amazing actor but a great person too. It is said that in the film industry anyone who goes through a hard time, is helped by friends but no one else helped the way actor Amjad Khan used to help. Amjad Khan not only helped his family and friends but also people he never knew and stood with them through difficult times.

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In an interview, his Sholay co-star Amitabh Bachchan praised Amjad Khan very much and shared an incident. He said that when he got seriously hurt while filming the movie Coolie, Amjad Khan helped him a lot. He not only showed empathy for his family but stayed in the hospital all night and whenever needed, ran here and there to help them out. Amitabh remains grateful to Amjad for this even today.

In fact, later, there was a time when Amjad Khan faced a similar situation and this time Amitabh Bachchan helped the actor as a family member. The 1979 film The Great Gambler's shoot was going on in Goa and Amjad Khan had a big car accident while driving to Goa for the shoot. He was with his wife and kids as he was heading for the shoot. Amjad had suffered severe injuries and he with his family was taken to the hospital. He had broken bones and almost slipped into a coma. When Amitabh Bachchan heard about this news, he left all his work to go to Amjad Khan and be beside him.

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When Mr. Bachchan saw Amjad at the hospital, the actor was in such a condition that he could not even breathe well. At that time doctors told Mr. Bachchan that Amjad is been severely hurt and his lungs have also been affected. During the treatment, he was there taking care of him and everything else including completing the paperwork and other formalities as Amjad Khan's wife was also hospitalised. Later, Amjad Khan was shifted to Mumbai. Big B never left the side of his friend. After this particular incident, it is said that Amitabh and Amjad's friendship deepened.

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The drug administered during his operation caused him to gain a lot of weight, which led to further health complications. 6 years after the accident in 1992 Amjad Khan bid goodbye to the world due to heart failure at the age of 51. Big B has often spoken about his friendship with the superstar on his blog and interviews. Recollecting the memories of his first meeting with the late actor on the sets of the 1975 blockbuster, Amitabh Bachchan wrote in his blog, "... A journey filled with happiness and joy and togetherness and trying times and difficult times. But the intensity of our friendship always remained. We spent some anxious times at various stages of our friendship... His accident, my accident and then his sudden passing away but there was a bond that remained unspoken between us and still does...." 

Infact, in an interview, Amitabh Bachchan once said, "Amjad Khan lived life king size and loved to make friends but it was unfortunate that when his friends use to betray him, he would not take at heart instead pardon them." Besides "Sholay", the two amazing superstars shared screen space in "Ahsaas", "Suhaag", "Mr. Natwarlal", "Laawaris" among others.

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