Ramesh Sippy

Ramesh Sippy was born on 23 January 1947 in Karachi, British India. He is the son of producer G. P. Sippy. Ramesh Sippy married Kiran Juneja in 1991.

He was previously married to Geeta, with whom he has three children. His son Rohan Sippy is a film director. His daughter Sheena was married to Shashi Kapoor's son, Kunal Kapoor, until they divorced in 2004.^{[citation needed]} Their son, Zahan Kapoor, is an actor working in Hindi films and theater plays.^[4]

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 Johar-Mehmood in Goa and Mere Sanam produced by his father. He worked as an assistant for seven years before becoming the director of Andaz (1971) starring Shammi Kapoor, Hema Malini and Rajesh Khanna which was a huge box office success. His second film Seeta Aur Geeta (1972) featuring Hema Malini in dual roles was also hugely successful and propelled her to superstardom^[5][6]

In 1975 Ramesh Sippy directed the film Sholay featuring Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri and Amjad Khan in a now iconic role of the dacoit Gabbar Singh. After a slow start the box office, the film eventually became one of the biggest blockbusters in Bollywood history. Sholay remains one of the most iconic films in Hindi film history.^[7]

None of his later films were able to match the stupendous success of Sholay^[8] which was a tribute to the Westerns. His next film Shaan (1980) which was inspired by the James Bond genre of films remained a moderate success.^[9] Shakti (1982) brought together veteran actor Dilip Kumar and the reigning superstar Amitabh Bachchan in Shakti. The moderately successful film did win the Filmfare Best Movie Award. In 1985, he directed Saagar, starring Rishi Kapoor, Kamal Haasan and marked Dimple Kapadia's comeback to films after 12 years since her debut in Bobby.

Ramesh Sippy directed the successful television serial Buniyaad which focused on the Partition of India and was aired on Indian television channel Doordarshan from 1986 to 1987. The next three films he directed, Bhrashtachar (1989), Akayla (1991), and Zamana Deewana (1995) were box office flops. He did not direct any film for 20 years after that. In 2015, he returned to directing with Shimla Mirchi, a comedy film starring Rajkummar Rao, Rakul Preet Singh and Hema Malini.^[10] The film had difficulty attracting buyers and remained unreleased until January 2020^[11] when it was finally released on Netflix.^[12]

His string of hits with Amitabh Bachchan made him one of the golden directors who had a special working relationship with the actor along with Yash Chopra, Prakash Mehra, Manmohan Desai, and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. In 2005 he received the Filmfare Best Film of 50 Years award for Sholay.

Ramesh Sippy has produced several films directed by his son Rohan Sippy, such as Kuch Naa Kaho (2003), Bluffmaster (2005) and Dum Maro Dum (2011). In 2006 he also produced Taxi No. 9211 which was directed by Milan Luthria. In 2008-09 he produced Kunaal Roy Kapur's The President is Coming and the Akshay Kumar-Deepika Padukone film, Chandni Chowk to China, directed by Nikhil Advani.

• Filmfare Best Film of 50 Years for Sholay in 2005^{[citation needed]}
• IIFA Award for outstanding contribution to the Indian cinema (Male) in 2012^{[citation needed]}
• Padma Shri in 2013^[13]
• Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.^{[citation needed]}

• Angry Young Men (mini series)