In order to prepare me for the role of the jailor in Sholay (1975) writers Salim and Javed showed me a World War II book, which had Adolf Hitler’s unseen pictures. Hitler was known to rehearse before every public speech and also have his pictures clicked in various costumes and poses. They asked me to pick a look from those photographs. Then wigmaker Kabir and Akbar from Gabbana was called to create the costume for me. Incidentally, acting institutes have Hitler’s recorded voice to train actors. He had hypnotised and provoked an entire nation with his voice modulation. My teacher, Roshan Taneja, enacted that voice for me. The manner in which Hitler said, ‘I am an Aryan!’ had a pitch and fall. I said the dialogue, “Hum angrez ke zamaane ke jailor hai!” emulating the same inflection. The sentence is followed by “Ha Ha!” That was inspired from Jack Lemmon’s act in The Great Race (1965). Even today I am asked to say these lines when I campaign during the elections
– Asrani