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RIP Mac Mohan

Late last evening, I heard the news of the passing away of actor Mac Mohan. At 71 years of age, he finally lost the battle against cancer.

Many of our generation and undoubtedly almost all of the generation after us, will not be able to put a face to that name.But talk about 'Sambha' of Sholay and there's instant recognition ! Mac Mohan who performed the role of Sambha had only three words to say as a dialogue in the movie - "Poore pachaas hajaar" - when asked by his leader Gabbar Singh about the denomination of the reward the police had announced for the latter's capture. Decades after the release of the movie, this dialogue has a much higher recall than even the songs of the movie, and people continue to chant this dialogue again and again, to this day ! MacMohan would himself not have imagined that the three words that he spoke in Sholay would stick to him for life.

Mac Mohan acted in many many other films - always in roles relatively low profile compared to the heros and heroines he acted with. But those roles were certainly not insignificant by any stretch of imagination. In every such role Mac Mohan left behind an imprint in the sands of film art - a contribution that will hopefully be remembered by his acting and film making colleagues and his fans.

He was one of the many actors who as a team played his role in entertaining us. For this, we could do well to thank him and remember him for as long as we can.

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