Viju Khote was an Indian actor known for his work in more than 440 films in Hindi and Marathi cinema. He was famous as robber Kaalia in the film Sholay and with the dialogue “Sardar maine aapka namak khaya hai.” But do you know that Viju Khote only got Rs 2,500 for his role in Sholay?
Viju Khote had only 7 minutes of screen time in the movie, but he breathed so much life into these 7 minutes that he was always known for his role in Sholay.
Ramesh Sippy, the director of the Sholay, once said that he had taken Rs 3 crore from his father GP Sippy to shoot Sholay. Out of this, he paid the salary of the entire star cast of the film with only Rs 20 Lakh.
As for Viju Khote, his facial expression in a scene in Sholay, in which he shows mixed feelings from real fear to a feeling of relief, shows his amazing acting talent. Unfortunately, Kaalia’s image remained so strong throughout Viju Khote’s career that he never got rid of it, even though he acted in over 300 films and played various roles, from the henchman of a villain to a funny Havildar who bullies the lovebirds in a park. His character Sholay became so popular that Tinu Anand made a film, Kaalia (1981), in which none other than the reigning superstar Amitabh Bachchan played the leading role.
Viju Khote’s comedic timing was also perfect, as he proved in numerous films, including in Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Aamir Khan-Salman Khan’s lead role Andaz Apna Apna (1994), where his recurring dialogue “Galti se error ho gaya” made the audience laugh and many years later inspired a song, Galti se Mistake in Ranbir Kapoor’s Jagga Jasoos (2017).
The actor had many years of experience in theatre and also participated in many television series, which was reflected in all his performances. Of course, he was never able to demand the roles of his choice, but he always did justice to every role he was given, regardless of the length. For him as an actor, no role was too small or too big. Sadly, Viju Khote p[ased away in 2019.
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