‘Broke’ Sanjeev Kumar did C-grade films, gave Rs 96 lakh to friends who never repaid

Sanjeev Kumar passed away at the age of 47. (Photo: Express Archive)

Sanjeev Kumar was one of the rare stars of Bollywood who experienced euphoric success in a short amount of time. Popularly addressed as ‘Hari bhai’, he was known for his effortless performances in films like Sholay, Aandhi, Trishul, Koshish, Mausam. Sanjeev had experienced some tough times during his early years and went through enormous struggle before he established himself in Bollywood. In a recent interview, veteran film journalist Hanif Zaveri shared that Sanjeev was offered many C-grade films in the early part of his career and he accepted them all because his family needed the money.

Sanjeev Kumar was broke, did C-grade films

In a chat shared on Meri Saheli Podcast’s YouTube channel, Hanif shared that the star’s family was going through immense hardships when he started trying his luck in the movies. His mother was running his father’s failing business, and Sanjeev could only afford two sets of clothes. “He didn’t know that the films he was doing were C-grade. He was quite broke so he was doing whatever he could get,” he recalled.

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Why Sanjeev Kumar didn’t marry Sulakshana Pandit

Sanjeev quickly caught the attention of some of the best filmmakers of the era, and his days of doing C-grade films were behind him, but his troubled love life caused quite a lot of unrest in his life. After a failed romance with Hema Malini and Nutan, Sanjeev had a relationship with Sulakshana Pandit, who was completely in awe of the actor. Hanif, however, expressed that Sanjeev liked her, but did not want to marry her, or anyone else, for he believed that he would die young. “He had already had two heart attacks by the time he met Sulakshana Pandit. He did not want to marry anyone. He believed that he had a short life, and he believed this because all the men in his family had died before the age of 50. He felt that he would also die before 50, so he did not want to get married and spoil someone else’s life. That was the only reason why he did not marry her,” he said.

Sanjeev Kumar gave Rs 96 lakh loan, was never repaid

In the same chat, Hanif was also asked about Sanjeev’s reputation as a miser, which Hanif said was completely untrue. “He gave Rs 96 lakh away as a loan to his friends, who never paid him back. He paid for his driver’s wedding. He presented a car as a gift to one of his friends. When Sanjeev made his will, he kept Rs 2 lakh aside for his driver’s son’s education. People who are miserly don’t do this. He was just against useless expenditure,” he said.

He recalled another incident where Shatrughan Sinha needed some money, and Sanjeev Kumar volunteered to give him the money. “When Shatrughan Sinha needed money, Sanjeev Kumar gave it even though Shatrughan hadn’t asked for it. Boney Kapoor needed it, so he gave it to him as well, without any documentation or anything. After Sanjeev died, Boney returned that money to his family. Even the family didn’t know he had given that money,” he said.

Hanif said Sanjeev and Shatrughan shared an extremely warm relationship. “When Shatrughan came from FTII, Sanjeev Kumar would talk him up in front of producers. They shared a deep friendship. When Sanjeev got to know that Shatrughan needed money, he was the first person to help out. He gave around Rs 5-7 lakh,” he said.