Vicky Kaushal’s father Sham Kaushal remembers Veeru Devgan: ‘He fed me when I was walking the streets hungry’

Action director Sham Kaushal has had a long and successful career in Bollywood. The stunt choreographer, who is actors Vicky Kaushal and Sunny Kaushal’s father, made his debut in the early 90s and soon established himself as one of the foremost action directors in the industry. However, Sham underwent a lot of struggle in reaching this stage. In a recent interview, he credited veteran action director and Ajay Devgn’s late father Veeru Devgan to being his mentor and inspiration in the field. (Also read: Vicky Kaushal’s father Sham Kaushal aces battle rope exercise, Rakesh Roshan reacts. Watch)

Sham began his career as a stunt performer in the late 70s, mostly under Veeru Devgan, who was already an established action director then. Sham recalled how Veeru took him under his wing in those days.

Speaking to ETimes, Sham said, “I have worked with Ajay Devgn ever since I entered the film industry as a stunt man. I used to work with his father Veeru Devgn ji. I think Ajay must have been in 4th-5th standard when I started working with Veeru ji. They used to stay in Santacruz at that time. I didn’t know anything about stunt work. Honestly speaking I was just working with him as an assistant.”

In fact, there were times when Sham was out of work and it got to a point where he would wander on the streets hungry. Then too, Veeru Devgan came to his aid. “When Veeru ji passed away, I was shooting in Kochi. I remembered all our days together, especially when I was walking the streets hungry, he took me to his home and fed me,” recalled Sham. (Also read: ‘When I saw Masaan, I realised Vicky Kaushal really is an actor’)

Veeru Devgan worked on over 200 films as an action director and later producer in a career that spanned for 35 years. He even ventured into direction with the 1999 film Hindustan Ki Kasam, which starred his son Ajay, apart from Amitabh Bachchan, Sushmita Sen, and Manisha Koirala. He died in 2019 at the age of 84.