Golden Era of Bollywood: Bollywood’s own cowboy star-FEROZ KHAN

On the 78th Birth Anniversary of Bollywood’s own cowboy star Feroz Khan I pay my tribute to this handsome bollywood actor. When Feroz Khan put on those shiny leather boots and rode the rough country flaunting his revolver and attitude in equal measure, he typified debonair super cool.He is known as the "Clint Eastwood of Bollywood" He made a successful journey from a hero of C-grade crime thrillers and fantasy yarns to become a top gun producer-director.

Feroz Khan made his debut in Homi Wadia’s low-budget flop, Reporter Raju (1962), With no godfathers to back him, Feroz worked in a bunch of low-brow flicks through the mid-1960s to survive. That included playing second fiddle to Dara Singh in Samson.In his quest for upward cinematic mobility, Feroz even accepted supporting roles with bigger banners. In 1967 released CID 909 who can forget the scene where Mumtaz seduces him serenading, Chahe to jaan le lo (music: OP Nayyar) ? – always knew he was just one hit away from stardom.
In side roles he always managed to hold his own against more famous co-stars: Raj Kumar (Oonche Log, a moderate success), Rajendra Kumar (Arzoo), Rajesh Khanna (Safar), Dharmendra (Aadmi aur Insaan, for which he got Filmfare’s Best Supporting Actor award) and Sunil Dutt (Pyaasi Shaam).
As a cowboy his film Khote Sikkay(1974) released which became a box-office smash. The same year, weird crime drama Geeta Mera Naam (directed by heroine Sadhana) made the cash counters jingle. Finally, Feroz had become his own man.
Over the next decade, he acted in a slew of mediocre westerns (Kaala Sona, Kachche Heere, Chunaoti), pure dacoit dramas (Shankar Shambhu), even supernatural thrillers (Jaadu Tona, Darinda) with mixed results.

He turned Producer Director from Apradh in 1972.which was average success in box office,after that he focused on making his own films. The movie where he really he put his heart and soul was Dharmatma (1975), which was inspired by Godfather and shot in pre-Taliban Afghanistan.The real success as Producer and Director came with Qurbani (1980) that Feroz hit the jackpot. The action-thriller rode on a bunch of chart busting tracks notably Aap Jaisa Koi (singer: Nazia Hassan, composer: Biddu), the floor-scorcher of the year. Zeenat Aman’s bikini too surely would have also helped the film’s cause.
His subsequent productions — Dayawaan, Jaanbaz, Yalgaar and Jaanasheen — were equally stylish and often laced with ladies in minimal attire and also big star cast were not able to set the box-office aflame.
He appeared in over 51 films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and became one of Bollywood's popular style icons His last film as an actor was "Welcome"was a roaring hit in 2007. He died from lung cancer on 27 April 2009 at the age of 69.He was buried in Bangalore near to his mother's grave at Hosur Road Shia Kabristan