Ramesh Sippy

Ramesh Sippy (Sindhi: رمیش سپی‎) (born 23 January 1947) is an Indian film director, best known for directing the popular and critically acclaimed film Sholay. He is a winner of the civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2013.

Sippy's father was producer G. P. Sippy. His son Rohan Sippy is a film director. His daughter Sheena is married to Shashi Kapoor's son, Kunal Kapoor. Ramesh Sippy has been married twice; his current wife is actress Kiran Juneja.

Career

Ramesh Sippy visited the sets of the film Sazaa, his father's first film, when he was 6 years old. His first film job came at age nine, when he played Achala Sachdev's son in the 1953 film 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 major 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. While Sholay was a tribute to the Westerns, his next film Shaan in 1980 was inspired by the James Bond films. In 1982 he brought together veteran actor Dilip Kumar and the reigning 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.