By Jagmohan Singh Barhok
On His Death Anniversary
Sadashiv Amrapurkar who played Rama Shetty in Govind Nihlani’s “Ardh Satya” (1983) needs no introduction. A versatile actor as he was, Sadashiv started acting during his school days and matured into a theatrical genius -writing ,directing and even acting in his own Marathi plays. His dedication and penchant paved way for his entry into films. Amrapurkar played Rama Shetty( a local mafia don) in Govind Nihalani’s “Ardh-Satya” ( 1983) winning Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for his outstanding performance: the film also featured Om Puri, Samita Patil, Amrish Puri and Shafi Inamdar in the cast. Amrapurkar later became friendly with Dharmendra who helped him bag roles in many films including Anil Sharma’s ‘Elaan-E-Jung’ and ‘Hukumat’ to name a few.
I met the actor first time during the location shooting of film “Apna Desh Praye Log” in Himachal Pradesh. Sadashiv played a self-proclaimed ‘God’ who lived in a palatial bungalow on top of the hill, surrounded by bevy of beauties in exotic nay erotic costumes & hundreds of devotees as well. I met the actor many times in later years and always found him the same -cool, composed and dedicated to his role. I met him last during the shooting of “The Return of Jewel Thief” at Natraj Studios, Andheri in 1995 :he played a Sikh character.
“Bewafa Sanam”, “Sabse Bada Khiladi”,”Coolie No. 1″, “Oh Darling Yeh Hai India” , “Gupt: The Hidden Truth”, “Aunty No. 1”, “Yaraana” were his other notable films.
Amrapurkar played ‘Maharani’, a negative character of a rustic eunuch in film “Sadak” in 1991 for which he received Filmfare Best Villain Award. He also did supporting and comic roles in later part of his film career besides two teleserial “Raj Se Swaraj” (1989) and” Bharat Ek Khoj” (1990).
