Veteran actor Asrani, 84, best known for his iconic jailer role in Sholay, passed away Monday after a prolonged illness. Trained at FTII Pune, he appeared in over 350 films. Recalling his early struggles in Mumbai, he said, "For two years, I was struggling to find work. Then Indira Gandhi helped us," urging producers to give FTII graduates opportunities.

Veteran actor Govardhan Asrani, best known for his iconic role as the jailer in Sholay, passed away at the age of 84 on Monday, October 20, after a prolonged illness. His last rites were performed at Mumbai’s Santacruz Crematorium.

In a career spanning over five decades, Asrani appeared in more than 350 films. He trained at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, where he honed his craft before entering the Hindi film industry in the mid-1960s. In an earlier interview with Bollywood Thikana, he revealed how Indira Gandhi had helped him find work after he struggled for two years despite his FTII degree.

Asrani shared that when he first came to Mumbai as a young man, he spent a month searching for music director Naushad, hoping he would help him find an acting job. When that did not work out, he returned to his hometown of Jaipur, where his parents asked him to start working at the family’s carpet shop. However, Asrani had other plans and applied to FTII, where he was admitted to the institute’s very first batch.

Later, he discovered that a certificate from FTII held little value in Bollywood, so he returned to the institute as a professor to make ends meet. He said, "I would roam around with my certificate, and they would shoo me away and say, ‘You think acting requires certificates? Big stars don’t have training here, and you think you’re special? Get lost.'"

Further, he continued, "For two years, I was struggling to find work. One day, Indira Gandhi came to Pune. She was the I&B minister at the time. And we complained to her. We told her that despite having a certificate, nobody gives us the time of day. Then she came to Mumbai and told producers that they should hire us. After that, work started coming in. Jaya Bhaduri was cast in Guddi, as was I. When Guddi became a hit, people started taking FTII seriously."

Asrani is survived by his wife, Manju Asrani, his sister, and nephew. The couple had no children.