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New Delhi: From the bandana-wrapped and twirling mustachioed daku of Hindi cinema, Bollywood saw a whole new villain in Ajit Khan during the 1970s — one who was suave, educated, wore suits and white shoes and sported a Clarke-Gable style moustache.

He would deliver the pithiest dialogues in a baritone voice and with a deadpan expression. And he’d employ a Hinglish accent never before heard in the industry – “Lilly don’t be silly” (Zanjeer) or “Saara shahar mujhe Loin ke naam se janta hai” (Kalicharan).

Over the years, his one-liners, iconic drawl and sidekicks — Mona darling and Robert (pronounced Raabert) — gave rise to a whole new genre of ‘Ajit jokes’ that would go on to entertain generations and spawn homages — like the Mona darling-Teja scene in Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha.

This cool, casual villain that Ajit was, however, not born accidentally. Director Prakash Mehra noted, “Ajit felt that the villains of Hindi films shout a great deal, so he created a soft-spoken villain. He said he had observed that underworld kingpins often spoke with a great deal of humility. With Zanjeer, Ajit revolutionised the way villains spoke.”

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Sold college books to buy train fare

In an interview, his son and actor Shehzaad Khan says, “My father was a very simple person. All he needed was six pairs of white shirts and trousers for the whole year, one or two packets of Dunhill cigarettes a day and books.”

He was born near Hyderabad’s Golconda, as Hamid Ali Khan. His father, Bashir Ali Khan, was in the Nizam’s army. Facing stiff opposition from his father to take up acting as a career, Ajit sold his college books and paid for the train fare to Mumbai. Without a contact in the industry, Shehzaad recalls how Ajit had spent his first few days in the dream city inside an empty nala.

“My father started his career as a junior artiste, standing in the crowd in the third row. But because of his deep baritone, he was moved to the first row. Mahesh Bhatt’s father, Nanabhai Bhatt, gave him a break as a hero in a film,” Shehzaad says.

It was also Nanabhai who gave the name Ajit because Hamid Ali Khan was “too long”.

Much before his gangster appeal, films like Mughal-e-Azam, Naya Daur and Sone ki Chidiya brought him to directors’ notice.

Teja and gangster jokes

Ajit’s role as a hero, however, failed to catapult him to success. And he found his true calling years later when he got a break as a villain in Suraj.

“There’s an interesting story about how my father became a villain. He did not have to work for four years. He would play cards with his friends, like Rajendra Kumar, at a club at Sea Rock Hotel. South Indian director T. Prakash Rao wanted to make a film called Suraj with Rajendra Kumar and Vyjayanthimala…Rajendra Kumar suggested my dad’s name,” said Shehzaad.

Soon came Zanjeer in which he played the chilling don Teja, then Yaadon ki Baraat, for which he became a gangster who wore a size 8 shoe on one foot and size 9 on another, and Kalicharan.

As and when his dialogues came out, so did the jokes. While Jaaved Jaaferi wrote the tagline for Maggi “Baas, pass the saas”, Parle-G had a biscuit campaign that was a nod to Ajit with “Maal laye ho?”

Ajit Khan died on 22 October 1998, but his legendary style lives on.

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