When Sadashiv Amrapurkar’s Epic ‘Maharani’ In Sadak Forced Filmfare To Introduce A New Category – [Fact-O-Meter](Pic credit: Instagram/indiatoday/medium.com)
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Sometimes, there are characters which aren’t justified by the actors’ underperformance, on the other side, there are some actors who shine only on their merit no matter how weak the character has been developed on paper. But when a superlative actor meets a well-written character, a deadly combination erupts, which was witnessed in the case of Sadashiv Amrapurkar’s act of Maharani in Sadak.
As we all know, the Mahesh Bhatt directorial Sadak released in 1991 was a big box office success and one of the major reasons was Amrapurkar’s portrayal of Maharani. He pulled off a character of a transgender pimp who was scary and oddly funny. His dialogue “Yahan ka raja, is jism ke bazaar ka maharaja, aur naam, maharani (I am the king of this place, the emperor of the flesh trade, and my name is Maharani),” still remains to be unforgettable.
Sadashiv Amrapurkar’s act in Sadak is amongst the best transgender and villainous portrayals of Bollywood. Due to such an impact and brilliance of acting, even the prestigious Filmfare Awards took a serious note of it. In fact, it was due to his amazing act, Filmfare instituted ‘Best Performance in a Negative Role’ category to acknowledge his performance.
Sadashiv Amrapurkar became the first recipient of ‘Best Performance in a Negative Role’ award of Filmfare in 1992.
Now, wasn’t that a great way to honour Amrapurkar’s acting skills?
Meanwhile, recalling the memories of Maharani and Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Mahesh Bhatt had once shared an interesting anecdote with Times Of India. He had quoted, “It was Sadashiv who wondered how could there be a hijra without a sari? He halted the shoot and got dressed in a sari. He gave his blood to the role and that’s why we still mention him after he’s gone.”
“Sadashiv was a very rooted person who chose to walk his own path on his own terms. A man of the world, he was very informed and had his own unique view on complex issues. Unlike his villainous portrayals on screen, in real life he was a very gentle, refined and cultured person, a very easy actor to work with. He added that sparkle to my career and I thank him immensely. So, without him, I wouldn’t have got where Sadak took me,” Bhatt had added further.
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