More than thirty-five years after his death, Sanjeev Kumar remains a role model for all aspiring actors. He could light up the screen in a pair of underpants, paunch showing, as he did in one of Hindi cinema’s most popular songs, ‘Thande Thande Paani Se’ (Pati Patni Aur Woh). Entirely unselfconscious of his image as a star, he would often be cast as an old man, playing the role of a father to his contemporaries -Sharmila Tagore in Mausam and Amitabh Bachchan in Trishul or, most famously, of the elderly Thakur in Sholay. And yet, he could leave an indelible mark with his presence and his acting prowess.

After starting out in B-grade films in the 1960s, he caught the eye of the audiences in Sunghursh, where the manner in which he held his own against Dilip Kumar is now the stuff of Hindi-film folklore. Equally adept at comedy (Angoor and Manchali, for example) and serious roles (Anubhav and Koshish), Sanjeev Kumar was truly an actor's actor.

Hanif Zaveri and Sumant Batra’s biography provides glimpses of the star’s personal and professional lives. From Kumar’s early years of struggle to his romantic involvement with some of Hindi cinema’s biggest names, from his lifelong battle with loneliness to his glittering achievements on screen, An Actor’s Actor is a succinct introduction to the life story of a star who left us at the young age of forty-seven, but who continues to live through his unforgettable and remarkable contribution to Hindi cinema.

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