Legendary actor Pran KrishanSikhand, popularly knownas Pran of Hindi cinema whoplayed the dreaded villain andlovable character with class

in hits like ‘Milan’, ‘Madhumati’,‘Bobby’, Zanjeer and ‘Ram Aur Shyam’,passed away at a suburban hospital at theage of 93.

“He died after a spell of prolonged ill-ness,” his daughter Pinky said. He wasadmitted to Lilavati Hospital a month agoafter his health started deteriorating, shesaid.

He was the ‘pran’ (life) of every film,”said popular Bollywood actor AamirKhan, who feels fortunate to have workedwith the legend very early in his career.”“He was an institution and we have lostone of the legends of Indian cinema,” headded.

His funeral was held at Shivaji ParkinMumbai, attened by by many HindiCinema fraternity , like Amitabh Bhac-chan, Anupam Kher, Gulzar, ShatrughanSinha, Shakti Kapoor, Jacky Shraff, AmirKhan and among others. Last time I hadseen a big gathering at the Shivaji Parkwas when Balasaheb Thackeray, passedaway and his funeral was held at the samepark. I was traveling with Bharat Yartragroup with Sita Panday, (nightingale ofGuyana). Mumbai was complete shutdown. This also reminded many yatransof the passing of Shri Prakash Gossai ofGuyana, who was loved by people.

The veteran actor, who had a six-decade-long career that saw him perform-ing in over 400 films, playing a vastrange of roles, from a hero to a villain toa character artist, was conferred the coun-try’s highest cinema honour - the DadaSaheb Phalke award - in April. He re-ceived his award and honor at his resi-dence when India’s Information andbroadcasting minister Manish Tewari vis-ited Hindi movie actor Pran and honoredhim with Dadasaheb Phalke Award at 93.Earlier, the legendary actor could not ap-pear for the felicitation ceremony ofDadasaheb Phalke award due to healthreasons. No one from his family waspresent either to receive the nation’s topcine honor. Considered one of the mostversatile actors in Hindi films, Pranjoined the industry to become a hero butended up playing one of the best villainsit ever had in the last 65 years.

Pran Krishan Sikand, better known asPran was known as the most famousmovie villain and character actor in Hindicinema from the 1940s to the 1990s. Heacted as a hero from 1940-56 in movieslike Khandaan (1942), Pilpili Saheb(1954) and Halaku (1956) and as a villainfrom 1942–199, played supporting andcharacter roles from 1948–2007.

His roles in the films like Madhu-mati (1958), Jis Desh Men Ganga BehtiHai (1960), Upkar (1967), Shaheed(1965), Aansoo Ban GayePhool (1969), Johny MeraNaam (1970), Victoria No.

203 (1972), Be-Imaan (1972), Zanjeer (1973), Don(1978) and Duniya (1984) are consideredto be among his best performances.

Pran won the Filmfare Best Support-ing Actor Award in 1967, 1969 and 1972and was awarded the Filmfare LifetimeAchievement Award in 1997. He wasawarded as the ‘Villain of the Millen-nium’ by Stardust in 2000. The Govern-ment of India honored him withthe Padma Bhushan, country’s highestcivilian honor in 2001. In 2010, he wasnamed on the list of CNN’s Top 25 Asianactors of all time.

Pran was born on 12 February 1920 inBallimaran, Kotgarh Old Delhi, into awealthy Punjabi family. His father, KewalKrishan Sikand, was a civil engineer anda Government civil contractor; his motherwas Rameshwari and the couple had foursons and three daughters.

Pran acted in 22 films from 1942–46in Lahore and of them 18 got released by1947. In 1947, his career came to a briefpause due to the partition. All the films hedid from 1944–47 were all made in undi-vided India. His films But Taraash (1951)and Khanabadosh (1952), both co-star-rring Manorama, for which he shot inearly 1947, were released only in Pak-istan after Partition. He left Lahore andarrived in Bombay. But no films came hisway for months. He continued his searchfor opportunities of acting along withother jobs. He took a job in DelmarHotel, Marine Drive and it was only aftereight months, in 1948, he got a chance tostart all over again as an actor. With the

help of writer Saadat Hasan Manto andactor Shyam, he got a role in the BombayTalkies’ film, Ziddi, launching his careerin Bombay. The movie had Dev

Anand and KaminiKaushal as leadsand was directedby Shaheed Latif.The film turned outto be Dev Anand’sbig break as a hero,and there was noturning back forPran also. By 1950he got establishedgradually as a pre-mier villain in Hindicinema.

Pran was regu-larly offered the roleof the main villainor of negative char-acter in the filmswith the famous triof DilipKumar, DevAnand and RajKapoor as the leadhero in the 1950sand 60s. From the1950’s directors likeM. V. Raman, Nan-abhai Bhatt, Kali-das, RavindraDave, I. S.Johar, BimalRoy repeatedly casthim in differentroles in their many

films. While in the sixties he acted in di-rectorial ventures of A. BhimSingh, Shakti Samanta, Bhappi Sonie, K.Amarnath, Nasir Hussain and others. In1970’s many new directors and producerscast him in their films even though hisprice was highestamong supportingactors from 1968–1982.

His associationwith Dev Anandwhich had begun in1948 continued evenduring the 1970s andthe 1980s with JohnyMeraNaam (1970), YehGulistanHamara (1972),Joshila (1973), Warrant (1975) and DesPardes (1978).

Pran always had a significant role incomedy films starring KishoreKumar and Mehmood Ali in the leadroles. His memorable collaborations withMehmood include Sadhu AurShaitaan (1968), Lakhon Me Ek (1971)and with Kishore Kumar include ChhamChhama Chham (1952), Aasha, Be-waqoof (1960), Half Ticket (1962)and Man-Mauji (1962).

In the period of 1969–1982, Pran wasthe highest paid actor than most lead ac-tors like Vinod Khanna, AmitabhBachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, RandhirKapoor and Rishi Kapoor. The lead heroto be paid much higher than Pran wasonly Rajesh Khanna in the 1970s and80s. He played the leading man in thefilm Aurat (1967) paired opposite Pad-mini and Rajesh Khanna in a supportingrole. Pran and Khanna worked in 6 morefilms – Aurat (1967film), Maryada (1971), Jaanwar (1983film) (1983), Souten (1983), Bewafai (1985) and Durgaa (1985).

In 1973, he recommended AmitabhBachchan to Prakash Mehra for the char-acter of Vijay in Zanjeer, which was ear-lier offered to Dev Anand andDharmendra. Pran’s character of SherKhan, with red wig and beardand Pathani style was well appreciated.

He paid great attention to his looks andproved to be the selling point of the filmwhere Bachchan was still a newcomer. He acted with Bachcahn in about14 films with notable onesbeing Zanjeer, Don (1978), Amar AkbarAnthony (1977), Dostana (1980),Naseeb (1981) and Sharaabi (1984).

In the late 1990s, Pran started reject-ing film offers citing age-related prob-lems. But in the 1990s when Amitabhwas going through a bad patch in his ca-reer, he requested Pran to do roles in hishome productions Tere MereSapne (1996) Mrityudata (1997) andPran made an exception by acting inthem. Pran’s legs had begun to shiver in1997 so his character in Mrityudaata wasmodified accordingly to justify his legsshivering and in Tere Mere Sapne, hisshots were taken with him being seated.Post 2000, he made few guest appear-ances.

. So effective was his acting that it wassaid that people stopped naming theirchildren ‘Pran’ because of his negativeroles, while the industry had started call-ing him ‘Pran Sahab’. His favorite line“Barkhurdaar” became immensely popu-lar.

His biography, ...and Pran, was sonamed because in at least 250 of the 350movies that he acted in, his was the lastname in the cast portion of the credits,with the words “...and Pran” and some-times “...above all, Pran”. In 2012, hegave his hand print for “Legend’s Walk”,a waterfront promenade in Bandra.

Pran has been honored with numerousawards for his portrayal of both negativeand character roles. He has been honoredby various awards with their LifetimeAchievement awards; including those ofFilmfare, Star Screen Awards and ZeeCine Awards. In 2001, the Government of

India conferred the PadmaBhushan, country’s thirdhighest civilian award onhim. Recently, 2013, he re-ceived the DadasahebPhalke Award, the mostprestigious award of the In-dian cinema, presented bythe Government of India.

Various celebrities con-gratulated him on this occa-sion with AmitabhBachchan calling him “alarge pillar of the Indian

Film Industry.”. Pran married ShuklaAhluwalia in 1945 and has two sons,Arvind and Sunil and a daughter, Pinky.

In the Indo-Caribbean communityfrom Guyana, Surinam and Trinidad,people loved Indian movies. Pran was al-ways seen as a very powerful actor. Weknew that he played villain and negativeroles, but his character uplifted hero’srole, in the sense his character deliveredmore good in the end. We were in awe ofhim in admiration as well in fear. Pranmade a place in people’s heart in theindo-Caribbean community. We are soproud that he has been given the highestfilm award even though so late in life, butbetter late than never. He will always beremembered for his versatility, boldnessand charisma.

Bollywood's Most Loved Villain Pran Passes Away At 93By Ramesh D. Kalicharran

Film Celebrities Jakie Sharoff, Amitabh Bacchan & Amir Khan amongothers attended the prayer meeting for Pran Krishan Sikhand.

Pran in his heydays

Pran was honored earlier this year with Dada Saheb Phalke Award

PRAN

INSET: P

eter Dass reciprocate a visit with Padmashri Ravi

(music director) at his home in Mumbai , India, March 24, 2011

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