GP Sippy, 1915 - 2007.

Veteran Bollywood film producer GP Sippy has died in the western Indian city of Mumbai at the age of 93. Mr Sippy was best known as the producer of Bollywood's biggest ever commercial success, Sholay (Flames).

The BBC.

Directed by Mr Sippy's son Ramesh, Sholay revolutionized Hindi filmmaking and brought true professionalism to Indian script writing. Written by Mr Sippy's favorite scriptwriting team, Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, Sholay was loosely styled on The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven, and has been called India's first "curry western."... On its release, the film ran for a record 286 straight weeks at the Minerva Theater in Mumbai, then called Bombay.... Sholay made Mr Sippy and many of its cast members — including Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri and Amjad Khan - into some of Bollywood's biggest stars.

Haresh Pandya, New York Times.

Posted by dwhudson at December 27, 2007 9:22 AM