Danny Denzongpa

Some Lesser Known Facts About Danny Denzongpa

• Does Danny Denzongpa smoke: Not Known

• Does Danny Denzongpa drink alcohol: Yes

• Denzongpa was born into a Buddhist family in Gangtok. In his younger days, he dreamt of serving the Indian army.

• Proceeding slowly and steadily towards his goal, Denzongpa won the Best Cadet Award from West Bengal and even participated in the Republic Day parade.

• However, after looking at the consequences of the Sino-Indian war in early 1960’s, Denzongpa’s mother did not allow him to join the armed forces. As a result, a desolated Denzongpa withdrew his application from the prestigious Armed Forces Medical College, Pune and instead joined the Film & Television Institue of India (FTII), Pune.

• At FTII, Denzongpa became very good friends with Jaya Bachchan, who happened to be his classmate. On Jaya’s suggestion, ‘Tshering Phintso Denzongpa’ adopted a simpler name- Danny!

• Denzongpa, who was not well-acquainted with Hindi found it very tough to land up roles initially in his career. Adding to his misery was an ‘unlike-Bollywood face’, which, according to the directors of that time, was not suitable for any role except for that of a servant.

• After struggling in some films, Denzongpa finally came into some limelight when he played the negative role in the 1972 film- Dhundh.

• Interestingly, the iconic role of ‘Gabbar’ was first offered to Denzongpa. However, since he was busy shooting for Feroz Khan’s Dharmatma, he could not accept the offer.

• His directorial debut, Phir Wahi Raat, starring Rajesh Khanna became a huge success at the box-office.

• The actor also has a prospering business of breweries in states like Sikkim, Orissa and Guwahati.

• In his 4-decade-long career, Denzongpa has acted in over 210 films.

• His film, Frozen (2007), was premiered at 34 international film festivals and garnered as many as 18 awards.

• Although Denzongpa has acted in a number of films alongside Amitabh Bachchan, he was initially reluctant to act opposite ‘Big B’. In an interview, he said that acting alongside the latter in those days was a big risk to one’s popularity, because if the movie became a success then senior Bachchan would get all the credit and if the movie turns out to be a flop, the other actors had to bear the brunt of failure.

• Also a singer, Denzongpa has recorded many tracks with the likes of Asha Bhonsle, Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi.