Birthday Special: The day of January 1 is special in two respects. First because the new year begins on this day and second because this day is also the birthday of Govardhan Asrani, an amazing Bollywood actor and who has left his mark in comedy. Born in 1941, 83-year-old Asrani has done more than 350 films in Bollywood. But he is still remembered for his role of ‘British era jailer’ played in ‘Sholay’.
But do you know how the character of ‘British era jailer’ became a classic? Why does this role become important? Let us know.
What is the story of the origin of the character of the jailer?
Actually the character was part of the story. It had been written. But the reason for including him among the historical characters is also history itself. While watching Sholay, you must have noticed the most special thing about the jailer was his demeanor and his style of speaking. Now this appearance and style was actually adopted by Asrani after being influenced by the German dictator Hitler.
Why were the jailer’s actions like Hitler’s?
Asrani had told that when he was signed for this role, the film’s director Ramesh Sippy and scriptwriters Salim-Javed gave him a book related to the Second World War. There were also 15 to 20 photographs of Hitler in this book. Asrani was asked to create a look exactly like Hitler.
According to Asrani, Hitler’s recorded voice is used in acting schools around the world to train students. In this voice, the way Hitler describes himself as ‘Aryan’. In the same manner, Asrani had said, ‘We are the jailers of the British era’.
Asrani had told that Hitler’s voice was so influential that it influenced the German army. He adopted exactly the same style and after speaking the dialogue, he also said ‘Haha’ in the same style as Hitler used to say. And in this way Asrani hypnotized the audience in the same way as Hitler used to hypnotize his army.
