Sharat Saxena says Raza Murad spread rumours about him that cost him work, reveals he was treated like a 'punching bag'

Actor Sharat Saxena, who was recently seen in the Vidya Balan-starrer Sherni, has said that for 35 years, he was treated like a 'punching bag' in films. He recalled playing villainous characters whose only job was to get beaten up by the heroes to make them look good.

In an interview, Sharat Saxena also spoke about a rumour that Raza Murad spread about him in the industry, which ended up costing him work.

He told Rediff, "Because I was a muscular person, I used to get work as an action character. I used to do a lot of fights. I used to get beaten up by the heroes. In Kaala Patthar, I was in the introduction sequence for three heroes (Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor and Shatrughan Sinha). Every hero would come, beat me up, establish himself as the hero and carry on with the film. I was a punching bag of the film, and that was the story of my life for the first 35 years of my career."

Because he was dissatisfied with the kind of roles he was getting, he moved to South India, where he also played the villain in several films. He said that one day, he learned that Aamir Khan had recommended him for a role in the film Ghulam, but nobody contacted him because they thought he'd quit Bollywood. He said, "Even though Aamir had suggested my name, they did not contact me because somebody had told them that I had shifted to Chennai. That person was Raza Murad. He had spread this rumour that I did not live in Bombay anymore. That's why they did not contact me."

Also read: Sharat Saxena says all ‘good roles written for old people go to Amitabh Bachchan’, people like him get ‘scrapings’

In Sherni, Sharat plays the role of Pintu, a strongman hunter who is brought in to stop a rampaging tigress in her tracks. Directed by Amit Masurkar, the film was released on Amazon Prime Video last month.