By Admin 
Dharmendra is ill these days and after staying in the hospital for several days, he is undergoing treatment at home. Amidst all this, if we talk about the films of Bollywood’s main man, he has given many blockbuster films and ruled the hearts of the audience with his powerful acting. Many of his characters are still alive in the hearts of fans. His character of Veeru in the iconic film ‘Sholay’ is also one of these, but do you know that initially he did not want to play the character of Veeru?
When he initially heard the script, he wanted to play the character of Thakur or Gabbar. Director Ramesh Sippy, during a conversation with The Lallantop, had revealed that Dharmendra told him, “This is Thakur’s story and he is fighting against Gabbar. What will we do?” To this, Sippy quipped, “Okay, either play Thakur or Gabbar, but then you won’t get Hema Malini.” The interesting thing is that Dharmendra had collected the highest fee for Shoal.
,cinder’ How much fee did Dharmendra get?
Let us tell you that according to many reports, Dharmendra was the highest paid actor on the sets, he got Rs 1.5 lakh for the role of Veeru. Sanjeev Kumar, who played the role of Thakur Baldev Singh in the film, received Rs 1.25 lakh as fee. At the same time, Amitabh Bachchan received a fee of Rs 1 lakh for his character Jai. Whereas, Rs 50 thousand was received for the dangerous but memorable character of Gabbar Singh played by Amjad Khan. Talking about the leading actress of the film, Hema Malini got a fee of Rs 75 thousand, while Jaya Bachchan got the least, only Rs 35 thousand.
Dharmendra had recommended Amitabh for the role of ‘Jai’
Interestingly, it was Dharmendra who recommended Bachchan for the role of Jai in Sholay. The legendary actor was asked about this in Rajat Sharma’s ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ and he said, “I don’t tell this to anyone. But now Amitabh himself has started speaking. That role was going to Shatru (Shatrughan Sinha). When Shatru came to know about it, he said, Paji, why did you give my role.”