Mumbai1 hour agoWriters: Ashish Tiwari and Abhinav Tripathi
- copy link
Jameel Khan, who travelled from Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai, has been active in the film industry since 1999.
Santosh Mishra's character in the web series Gullak was quite memorable. This character played by actor Jameel Khan has such an impact that when people meet him in real life, they start touching his feet. Jameel is a resident of Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh. His family does not give much importance to films and actors.
Jameel's parents faced many problems. They had no house to live in. They used to live under the stairs in a one-room house. After Jameel was born, the financial condition of the family improved a bit.
Jameel was interested in art and theatre since childhood. As he grew up, he developed an inclination towards theatre. He left Bhadohi and travelled to Mumbai. Then he was gripped by financial problems in Mumbai. He started facing shortage of money. During this time, he met Naseeruddin Shah. Jameel started doing theatre under Naseeruddin Shah. Naseer used to give him money from time to time, which provided some financial relief to Jameel.
This time in the struggle story, we will talk about Jameel Khan… Jameel Khan has been active in the film industry since 1999. He has a lot of work to count in his 25-year long career, but there is a long struggle behind achieving them.
Let's read Jameel's story of struggle in his own words…
The parents suffered a lot
Jameel Khan said, 'Just a year ago, I was talking to my mother on the phone. She told me something that stunned me. Mother said that before you were born, we did not even have a proper room to live in. There was a small balcony in which we used to live by making a room under the stairs. We used to cover the stairs with a cloth so that it was not visible from outside.'
Jameel studied in Bhadohi till the third grade. After this, his family sent him to a boarding school in Nainital. Jameel was fond of watching movies since childhood, but this was not possible in school. However, whenever there were cultural programs in school, Jameel always came first in them. Jameel says, 'Whatever I have learnt, I have learnt from my school. That's where I started getting interested in acting. I also won the Best Actor award in school.
Every year there was a three month vacation. I used to come home during those vacations. I used to get some freedom to watch movies at home. My family members also used to think that the poor guy has come from a boarding school, let's give him some freedom.
After taking permission from my family, I used to go to the theatre to watch movies. Then I used to discuss the film with my friends. Perhaps my storytelling skills started to improve due to these discussions. From there, for the first time, I felt that I can do something in the field of art.
The family wanted Jameel to do UPSC or MBA
After Nainital, Jameel went to Aligarh Muslim University for further studies. After studying there, Jameel told his family that he now wants to join theatre and wants to go to Mumbai for this.
Father and brother wanted Jameel to do MBA and take over the family business or prepare for UPSC. However, Jameel could see only one goal apart from all these things. Seeing his desire, the family also allowed him to go to Mumbai. Father said that if you need anything, let me know. Jameel said, 'Father, you have done whatever you had to for me. Now I want to stand on my own feet.'
Had to face financial difficulties, Naseeruddin Shah used to help
Jameel had clearly refused to take money from his family. Due to this, he faced a lot of problems when he came to Mumbai.
He said, 'It is natural that it was not easy to manage expenses in an expensive city like Mumbai. One had to think about everything. I used to do theatre, so I used to earn some money from that. I used to do shows with Naseer Bhai (Naseeruddin Shah), so he used to give me some money. However, he used to give me only a little bit. You also know how much money is earned from theatre. Still, sometimes I used to get good money in the name of Naseer Bhai.'
Jameel did not consider himself fit for films, so he made theatre his first floor
Why did Jameel turn towards theatre and not films? Explaining the reason, he said, 'I was very afraid of failure. I did not consider myself fit for films. That is why I was only inclined towards theatre. However, with time things changed. I started feeling that the work I was doing was not being discussed anywhere. On top of that, I was not earning enough from theatre to make ends meet. Thinking this, I set out to try my hand in films.'
The director said to his face- many people like you come here
Jameel started wandering from door to door in search of work in films. His close friend introduced him to a director. The director said something to Jameel's face that he could not forget for a long time. The director said- Many people like you come here. They face difficulties and then go back. Then they go and make a fool of themselves in the cities and villages. If you value your respect, then leave as soon as possible.
The special thing is that later the same director approached Jameel, but this time he refused. Jameel said that till now he has worked by keeping self-respect paramount and will do so in future as well.
Working with Naseeruddin Shah proved beneficial, people started noticing
Jameel was in dire need of money. He was married and his responsibilities had increased. He had to do films somehow so that he could earn some money. Here again Naseeruddin Shah got an important role. Jameel said, 'While doing shows with Naseer Bhai, people started noticing me too. I got acquainted with people from the industry. From there I started getting offers for ads and films.'
When Amitabh Bachchan came near and introduced himself to Jameel
Jameel worked very hard and luck also supported him. In the early days of his career, he got a chance to work with big actors like Salman and Shahrukh Khan. Apart from this, he also worked with Amitabh Bachchan in the film Cheeni Kum. Jameel and Big B have one thing in common, both of them have studied at the same school Sherwood College in Nainital at different times.
Jameel shared the memories of his first meeting with Amitabh Bachchan and said, 'I met Bachchan sahab for the first time on the set. He was staring at me for a long time. He felt that I wanted to talk to him. Suddenly he came to me and said- Hi, my name is Amitabh Bachchan. A man like Amitabh Bachchan is standing in front of me and introducing himself. I was stunned to see this.'
After seeing the piggy bank, a person came to touch his feet
Talking about his character in the web series Gullak, Jameel Khan said, 'The audience was able to relate to my character Santosh Mishra in the show. Many people saw their father in Santosh Mishra. Many people told me that they wished their father was also like Santosh Mishra. This in itself is a huge compliment for me.
One day, I was at the airport when a 30-year-old man came to me. He bent down towards my feet, I tried to stop him. He hugged me. He hugged me for about 30 seconds. When he left me, he had tears in his eyes. He told me- Thank you sir. After saying just these two words, he left. There was no better moment than this for me. Santosh Mishra's character was so deeply embedded in that man's mind that he could not even express it in words.
The script was put aside in Gangs of Wasseypur
Jameel also played an important role in the famous film Gangs of Wasseypur. In the film, he played the role of Asgar, a friend of Manoj Bajpayee's character Sardar Khan. Sharing his memories, he said, 'While making Gangs of Wasseypur, I had no idea that this film would become so big.
During the shooting, we used to keep the script aside. Director Anurag Kashyap's way of working was a little different. He had given us actors complete freedom to complete our scenes the way we wanted. We developed many dialogues of the film on the spot through improvisation.
The pairing of Jameel Khan and Manoj Bajpayee in the first part of Gangs of Wasseypur was worth watching.
Jameel said at the end of the interview that his family runs a carpet business and he is also a resident of Bhadohi, a neighbouring city of Mirzapur. In such a situation, the real 'Carpet Bhaiya' is none other than himself. After saying this, he laughed loudly and shook hands and bid us farewell.
