The most convincing villain in Hindi cinema, Pran was also a benefactor of Big B

New Delhi, February 12 (SocialNews.XYZ) Notorious for terrorizing at least two generations of top heroes in reel life with just his trademark glare, steely voice and facial expressions ranging from ferocity to sneer Tall he especially stood out in that movie. His relationship with Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, whom he once struck down with a couple of words on screen.

In one standard of the forgotten potboiler genre, Amitabh, with his character’s habitual nonchalance, asks a stern-looking, impeccably dressed character, “Aap kaun hai maibaap?” Pat replied curtly, “Tumhara baap.”

This is “Amar Akbar Anthony” (1977), one of the 11 songs Pran, who was born on this day (February 12) in 1920, performed with Big B, and is more than twice as good as his father. , or co-starred with unwilling allies. Of these, at least nine were directed by Bachchan, including ‘Zanjeer’ (1973), ‘Don’ (1978), ‘Naseeb’ (1981), ‘Kaalia’ (1981) and ‘Shalabi’ (1984). It is unique to the legend. Shahenshah (1988)

Pran also said that it was he and his co-star Ajith who convinced Prakash Mehra to cast the then unknown Amitabh as the hero in Zanjeer despite having done over 15 films. and played a major role in paving the way for Big B’s stardom.

One of the few actors who entered the film industry without wanting to be a hero, his contribution to the Indian film industry was unparalleled. When Pran passed away in 2013, the 100th anniversary of Indian cinema, he had acted in nearly two-thirds of his 93-year career, and at least one-quarter of Indian parents were asking their children to follow Pran. He was such a convincing villain that I didn’t even use his name. A century!

Among the highest paid actors of the time, he was a unique actor with more than a dozen songs, sometimes more than his heroes, and was unique in that his name appeared alone at the end of the casting call. He also had many privileges. ”.

When he transformed the villains of Hindi films from stereotypes to well-defined characters, the rewards were that people abused him in public, children hid from him, and most female stars feared him. , his name became taboo for two generations.

The son of a wealthy government civil contractor Kewal Krishan Sikand, Pran was destined to become an actor, apart from his appearance as Sita in Shimla’s Ram Leela, in which Madan Puri played Ram. There didn’t seem to be any.

He joined films purely in film style after a chance encounter at a bakery in Lahore where he was working with a major photo studio.

Impressed by Pran’s hotpot eating style, a man approached him and asked him to come to a famous producer’s office the next day to test for a role. I thought the plan was a joke and completely forgot about it. But when he went to the cinema the following Saturday, he met the same person, filmmaker Wali Mohammad. He later said the person walked across, “started abusing me with a selection of Punjabi epithets” and then picked him up at his home.

He made his debut as a villain in “Yamra Jat” (Punjabi, 1940) and was then cast as a hero opposite Noor Jehan in the studio’s first Hindi film, “Kandan” (1942). However, he later confessed that he did not like singing songs or chasing heroines around trees.

After the Partition, his family migrated to Bombay, but despite the intervention of friends such as actor Shyam and writer Sadat Hasan ‘Manto’, he was unable to find work and faced rejection after rejection. faced.

His fortunes changed when Bombay Talkies cast him as the villain in Ziddi (1949), which launched Dev Anand’s heroic career. Offers began to pour in and his career began to take off again, continuing until his retirement in the 1990s due to his age and health problems.

His trademark roles included playing the character of the same name in the costume drama Halak (1956), playing the grandson of Genghis Khan, and starring opposite Ajith and Meena Kumari in Madhumati. (1958), and his role as the torturer of Dilip Kumar in films such as “Dil Diya Dardo Riya”. (1966), Raj Kapoor’s nemesis in Ram Aur Shyam (1967) and Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hain (1959) – the scene where he rubs his neck , was to express the dacoit’s fear of Shammi Kapoor’s rope. Thorns in ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’ (1964) and ‘Brahmachari’ (1968), Dev Anand’s Thorns in ‘Munimji’ (1955)

However, his role as a dacoit in Manoj Kumar’s Shaheed (1965) and Maran Chacha in Upkal (1967) was a faithful doctor’s friend in Raj Kapoor’s Ah (1953). Even though he was playing a character, he paved the way for a more positive character. This was thought to be the cause of the failure.

Pran is also known for turning down the Filmfare Awards in protest at the exclusion of deserving candidates from other categories, launching a fund to support film artists and technicians in need, and publicly addressing the state of emergency. He was also one of the rare Bollywood figures to criticize.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)

Source: IANS