In the year 2017, he founded Ramesh Sippy Academy of Cinema & Entertainment in Mumbai.
Personal life
Ramesh Sippy was born on 23 January 1947 in Karachi, British India in a Sindhi Hindu family to G. P. Sippy who was a film producer. Ramesh Sippy has been married twice; his current wife is actress Kiran Juneja. With his first wife, Geeta, he has 3 children. His son Rohan Sippy is a film director. His daughter Sheena was once married to Shashi Kapoor's son, Kunal Kapoor, until they divorced in 2004.[4]
Career
Ramesh Sippy visited the sets of the film Sazaa, his father's first film, when he was 6 years old. His first film job came at age nine, when he played Achala Sachdev's son in the 1953 film Shahenshah. He worked in both the production and direction departments in films like Johar-Mehmood in Goa and Mere Sanam, which his father was producing. He worked for 7 years as an assistant before becoming the director of Andaz, in 1971 which starred Shammi Kapoor, Hema Malini and Rajesh Khanna and was a box office success. His second film Seeta Aur Geeta (1972), featuring Hema Malini playing dual roles was highly successful and propelled Malini to superstardom[5][6]
In 1975, he directed Sholay featuring an ensemble cast including Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar and Amjad Khan in his most iconic role as the dacoit Gabbar Singh. After a lukewarm start the box office, the film went on to become the biggest blockbuster in Bollywood film history. Sholay still remains one of the most iconic films in Hindi film history and a favourite for Hindi film audiences globally.[7]
None of his later films were able to match the success of Sholay.[8] While Sholay was a tribute to the Westerns, his next film Shaan in 1980 was inspired by the James Bond films but was only a moderate success.[9] In 1982, he brought together veteran actor Dilip Kumar and the reigning superstar of that era Amitabh Bachchan in Shakti. While the film was only moderately successful, it won the Filmfare Best Movie Award. In 1985, he directed Saagar, which starred Rishi Kapoor, Kamal Haasan and marked Dimple Kapadia's comeback to films after 12 years since her debut film Bobby.
He directed a successful television serial titled Buniyaad which focused on the Partition of India and aired on Indian television channel Doordarshan from 1986 to 1987. The last three films he directed, Bhrashtachar (1989), Akayla (1991), and Zamana Deewana (1995) were box office flops. He did not direct any film for 20 years.
In 2015, he returned to directing after 20 years with his next film, Shimla Mirchi, a comedy film starring Rajkummar Rao, Rakul Preet Singh and Hema Malini.[10] The film had difficulty attracting buyers and remained unreleased for five years.[11] In January 2020, it was finally released on Netflix.[12]
