Viju Khote, an all-round artist of the Hindi film industry. His journey in Bollywood was quite long. He made the audience laugh a lot by playing Robert in ‘Andaz Apna Apna’ and scared them by playing Kalia in ‘Sholay’. His dialogue ‘Maine aapka namak khaya hai sardar’ is still on the lips of every child. He inherited acting, as both his father and sister were associated with the industry. He started as a child artist. It is a different matter that despite doing so much work, there came a time when he used to make rounds of producers and directors and ask for work from them. Let’s talk today about Vitthal Bapurao Khote alias Viju Khote in Saturday Superstar. Viju Khote was born on 17 December 1941 in Mumbai. His birth name was Vitthal Bapurao Khote. He worked in more than 440 Hindi and Marathi films. However, she is best known for her role as Kalia in the film ‘Sholay’. His dialogue ‘Maine aapka namak khaya hai sardar’ became quite famous. At the same time, his dialogue ‘Galti se mistake ho gaya’ from the film ‘Andaz Apna Apna’ is also quite famous.
Worked on TV also
Apart from films, Viju Khote has also worked on TV. On TV, he is best remembered for his role in ‘Zaban Sambhal Ke’ (1993). He also worked in Marathi theater for many years. Viju Khote’s sister Shubha Khote was a well-known actress in the film industry. She was five years older than Viju. Viju’s father Nandu Khote was a well-known stage actor. He worked in many silent films. Famous Bollywood actress Durga Khote also had a relationship with Viju.
That’s why I used to do comedy roles
When Viju was young, his father Nandi advised him to work in films as a child artist. After this his father made a film in which Viju played the role of Mehmood’s friend. At that time the pairing of Shubha and Mehmood was quite famous. It is said that when Viju started working in films, it was not certain that he would make his career in this field. He was very good in studies, so people thought that he would earn fame in some other field. He also opened a printing press, which he ran for two years. During this time, his friendship with Manmohan Desai increased. He worked in two films, in one he played the role of a villain and in the other he was a comedian. He played both the roles well. Since playing a villain involves a lot of beating, Viju preferred to do comedy roles.
Interesting story of shooting of ‘Sholay’
According to the information, Amjad Khan and Viju, who played the role of Gabbar Singh in the film ‘Sholay’, were good friends and both had worked together in theatre. It was Amjad who got Viju the role of Kalia. There is an incident during its shooting that Viju was given a mare to sit on. As soon as Spotboy opened the umbrella, the mare got angry and threw Viju. Viju left the world on 30 September 2019 at the age of 77. He was 77 years old. He died due to multi organ failure. Viju Khote is still remembered as a seasoned actor and will always be remembered.
