Shilpa Jamkhandikar / DNA

The personal side of Amitabh Bachchan  remains an enigma,but those who’ve  stayed by his side through the years, never in the limelight, are privy to the  more intimate side of the superstar. One such person is Deepak Sawant, who has been Amitabh’s make-up man for the last 36 years...and still counting.

Mumbai, Oct 11: It was the end of a long day of shooting and the cast of Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay was heading back for some much needed rest.

Amitabh Bachchan, his wife, Jaya and their make-up artist Deepak Sawant made their way to the waiting car, and Sawant got into the front seat.

“As I got in and slammed the door closed, I heard an agonising shout, and Amitji screaming, “Arre mera haath, mera haath, (oh, my hand). My heart stopped for a minute - I thought I’d crushed his hand in the car door. Jayaji also panicked, and we both tried to pull Amitji’s hand from the car door. A minute later, he himself pulled out his hand and was laughing heartily saying ‘kaise ullu banaya tum dono ko!’” reminisces Sawant.

As Bachchan turns 65 today, it is the prankster in him that Sawant remembers the most.

“I have been with him for more than 36 years and he has always been a workaholic, speaking very sparingly, and only when absolutely required. But he also a naughty side that people who have been around him know and love.”

Sawant who has done Amitabh’s make-up right from ‘Raaste Ka Patthar’ to the about to be released ‘Sarkar 2’, insists that he’s been rock steady through the years.

The superstar’s penchant for punctuality is also well known, and Sawant vouches for it. “He always arrives before time on shoots, reads the paper, and only then does he call me in to start make-up,”  he says.

“He also has a fetish for being very, very neat. Things will always be in place when he is around. I have learnt so much from him in the time I have been with him.”

It’s not as if it’s been a smooth ride throughout — they’ve had their share of differences.

“In this industry, there are people who try to create misunderstandings. We were both hurt by what happened and decided to go separate ways. But we were destined to work together. After a few years passed, we met and sorted our differences — it was as if nothing had changed.

I remember he asked, “Why can’t anyone else do make-up like you?”

The relationship Deepak shares with the Bollywood legend can be gauged from the fact that after his hospitalisation in November 2005, as the entire industry held its breath, Amitabh walked out of Lilavati straight to the sets of Sawant’s Bhojpuri film — a project that would have broken him had it remained incomplete.

“He was recuperating from a serious operation last year, but he stood true to his word and shot for my Bhojpuri film ‘Ganga’, without taking any renumeration.

There were so many big time producers and directors waiting for him, but it was his commitment to me he honoured first. I will be eternally grateful for that,” he says.

Amitabh fan? But did you know that...

His father Harivansh Rai Bachchan had first considered naming him Inquilab before settling for Amitabh

At home, he was fondly referred to as Munna

He burnt his left hand during Diwali in 1983. He kept his injured hand in his pocket through the shooting of ‘Sharabi’.

Indian comic book character ‘Supremo’ is based on Amitabh