Exclusive! Danny Denzongpa on being the ultimate Bollywood baddie

Danny applied for an acting course at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune instead. “I could sing and play the flute so I thought I’d learn music. But later I realised that music was part of the acting course!” With his unconventional looks, work didn’t come easy. “In the ’70s, big banners like Gemini and AVM (South) made family dramas. I didn’t fit in. I was told that I neither looked like a father nor a brother – the only part I could get was that of a servant or an outsider,” he smiles. Meanwhile, parallel cinema was gaining momentum. Danny first featured in B R Ishara’s Zaroorat (1971). Next came Mere Apne (1971), Gulzar’s remake of Tapan Sinha’s Bengali film Apanjan, in which he played a small role of a puppeteer in the film. “I went to meet a puppeteer in Santa Cruz to prepare for the role. Soon the neighbouring kids surrounded me. They hadn’t seen a chinky-eyed guy in the area before,” recalls Danny. Another reason he accepted this l role was because the film featured his favourite actress Meena Kumari. “She’d tell me, ‘Tu toh mera asli bachcha hai (you’re my real son), your nose is like mine’.” Soon hits like Dhund , Chor Machaye Shor, Kalicharan, Kala Sona, Fakira and Laila Majnu followed. “The industry had no choice but to accept me. I wasn’t interested in playing the lead because the hero had to dance – which was like PT exercise!” says Danny who then became the industry’s top baddie.

Danny raised eyebrows for declining the role of the iconic Gabbar Singh (Sholay, 1975), which was then played by the late Amjad Khan. In fact, it was even announced in trade reports that he was slated to play the villain in Ramesh Sippy’s multi-starrer. “I had signed Feroz bhai’s (Khan) Dharmatma and was about to leave for Afghanistan. Rameshji wanted those very dates. But Feroz bhai had signed me first, paid me first and asked for the dates first. I was committed to him and couldn’t back out, though I very much wanted to play Gabbar.” Even a meeting between the two directors could not resolve the dilemma. But Danny has no regrets.  “Not only was a wonderful actor like Amjad Khan born but it also benefitted me. The hero was paid around Rs 12 lakh as remuneration while Amjad started charging Rs 11 lakh. I was next in the line, so I too availed of it. Overall the status of the character artiste rose.”

And with his status also rose his fan following. “Girls get attracted to bad guys. From marriage proposals to having girls pay vigil at his gate, to women claiming to be his wife, he has seen it all. “A girl from Nagaland kept writing to me. At first I discouraged her by not replying. But later she started threatening that she’d commit suicide. I then wrote a letter to her explaining that she was just infatuated with my image. I also wrote that I had a girlfriend and would be soon getting married. I reasoned that if she were a true fan, she’d also get married. After two months she wrote to me that she was getting married. She even phoned me when she delivered a baby.” The rugged actor also had male fans writing letters in blood to him. “They’d write ‘you are my guru’. I’d reply, “I am no guru, I am a ‘fraud’. Don’t go by what you see on screen,” he laughs.

While Danny’s friendship with the Bachchans is a longstanding one, the actor categorically refused to share screen space with Amitabh Bachchan for 18 years. “I kept holding myself back from working with Amitji. I thought here’s this huge actor, who gets the best roles. No one would notice me if I was in the same frame with him. If the film were a hit, all credit would go to him. But if it flopped then the ‘new’ guy would be blamed. I kept refusing even Manji (the late director Manmohan Desai) who offered me four films with Amitji including Mard and Coolie.” He continues, “Once I was at Film City where Manji was also shooting. He went on his knees and teased me in front of everyone, ‘Sir, please do a film for me’. I replied, ‘Sochenge!’ I’d tell Manji you’re dragging the industry back by 20 years (hinting at Desai’s fantastical cinema). You give one super-hit and 10 other guys follow you’. Manji would give me the choicest gaalis. But main seedha aadmi hoon, I speak the truth no matter how bitter!”

But he was destined to work with Bachchan.  “When Mukul Anand (the late director) narrated the role of Kancha Cheena opposite Amitji in Agneepath (1991) to me, I knew it wouldn’t go unnoticed. We were shooting the first schedule in Mauritius. It was 8.30 am; we were ready with our make-up but hadn’t yet got the dialogue sheet. I screamed at the assistant. I was nervous.   Five minutes later Amitji walked in. He had heard me shout and had come to reassure me. He said, ‘I’ve just received the sheet and we can rehearse together’. After that it was absolutely comfortable,” recalls Danny who then went on to do Hum and Khuda Gawah with Bachchan in the early ‘90s.

Danny goes on to give rare insights about the legend. “Amitji is a fantastic son. No matter where he’d be shooting – US or Mauritius, he’d fly down to see his ailing parents (the late Dr Harivanshrai and Teji Bachchan). He’d even stay in the hospital looking after them. He’s medically aware and would keep tabs on the treatment given.” Another quality that he admires about Bachchan is his patience. “We were shooting for Khuda Gawah on the outskirts of Nepal when hundreds of people gheraoed our car. The car was trembling. I was agitated. Amitji, who was in full get up with pagdi and beard and despite there being no AC in the car, kept his cool. He held my hand and said, ‘Sit quietly, accept the heat. If you go out you’ll spoil matters’,” he laughs at the memory. “I have seen Amitji hit the lowest graph during the ABCL disaster and his career downslide. Even then he never lost his cool. He rose from the ashes like a Phoenix and paid back every penny he owed.”

Mention his ex-girlfriend, the late Parveen Babi and he describes her as ‘a nice human being, very beautiful’. “We were two young kids and we lived together for four years. That was big news those days. We had a wonderful time, but later we grew apart and parted on a good note. We remained friends.” Parveen later dated Kabir Bedi and then Mahesh Bhatt and lived in the same colony, Kalumal Estate, as Danny. The actor shares, “Parveen would keep inviting me for dinner. I had a new girlfriend (actor Kim) those days. She was wary of her. Also, if your ex keeps walks into the house anytime like a mother hen, it would be difficult for any girl to accept.  I would pick up Kim from the sets after pack up and reach home only to find Parveen in my bedroom watching a movie on the VCR. I asked Parveen not to do it. But she’d say, ‘We don’t have anything between us, we are friends’.  I guess she did it purposely,” he laughs adding he then had to ask Mahesh, also his friend, to make Parveen see sense.

He remembers the first time he noticed something abnormal about her. ‘I had been for dinner at her place. There were silver conches on the table. When I began blowing one, she got frightened. That’s when Mahesh said, ‘She gets easily frightened these days and is turning into a recluse’. A few days later Mahesh confided again. “Parveen’s unwell. She cares for you and you must come over and give her support.” The doctors would then be first called to Danny’s house. After the discussion, one doctor would go up to meet her. One day Mahesh called Danny saying Parveen was hysterical. “We sent for guru UG Krishnamuthi immediately. He held her hand and said, ‘Parveen you’re perfectly alright, there’s nothing wrong with you’. And she was fine. She believed in him. Whenever Parveen needed me, I was always there.”

Danny goes on to reveal why Parveen cut off ties with him. “One day she happened to read an interview where Amitji had mentioned that I was a good friend of his. That was it. When I went to meet her the next time, she looked at me through the keyhole and refused to let me in calling me ‘his agent’ (Parveen was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and had developed irrational fears vis-à-vis several celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan). She was frightened of me too.” Years later, Danny did attend her funeral. “For someone who had so many filmmakers queuing up for her once, there were none that day. Just a handful of us, including Kabir, Mahesh, Johnny Bakshi, Ranjeet and producer Harish Shah (Kala Sona).”

Danny, who was reportedly linked-up with Kimi Katkar, Parveen and later Kim, eventually married Gawa, a Sikkimese princess. “Because she was the best,” he smiles. “It was arranged-love. I had met her when she was in the final year of school. When my mother was very ill, she insisted I marry her. I started dating her and we eventually got married.” The once hotshot bachelor roots for marriage, “It’s a bond that ties you or else we actors are like banjaras, we can go out of control. With so many girls chasing you, dimag kharaab ho jaata hai.  Marriage hooks you for good. It’s been 22 years.” His children, son Rinzing and daughter Pema, both around 20, are studying in the UK. “Rinzing is doing business and Pema animation. Rinzing seems interested in films but education is the priority now.” Is he a better husband or father? “I’m neither a good husband nor a good father. I’m quite a detached person. Buddha’s teachings stress on impermanence and that attachment only brings pain.  Yes, I am a provider but I don’t impose myself on my wife and children,” says Danny. I leave enlightened.

Jaya was my classmate at the FTII. On orientation day, newcomers have to introduce themselves to the seniors. When I said my name Tshering Phintso Denzongpa, they couldn’t get it and kept saying, ‘Come again, come again!’ It became a joke. My classmates would call out ‘Shhssh shhhssh…’ as though I were a puppy! Jaya suggested I keep it simple and named me Danny. As a person, she’s honest and calls a spade a spade. So, in many ways she’s like me. Even when she was a newcomer, she’d rush to defend a friend. Once at a party, a filmmaker made fun of Romesh Sharma. Jaya took on the filmmaker. She may be small in height but she’s a Bengali tigress.

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