Veteran actor Pran passed away at around 8.30.P.M. on Friday in Mumbai at the age of 93. The legendary actor of Hindi Film Industry was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital following prolonged illness. While Pran is loved as an actor for his landmark performances in several movies including Kalia, Don, Zanjeer and Madhumati, he equally earns hatred of the audience for his stupendous performance as a villain in films like Andha Kanoon, Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai etc.
Pran is recipient of the 44th Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the most prestigious award of Film Industry for Lifetime Achievement. But due to health issues, as he couldn’t travel to Delhi to collect the award at the 60th National Film Awards ceremony, he was especially honored at his residence by the Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari.
Born as Pran Krishan Sikand into a wealthy family in Delhi on Feb 12, 1920, Pran lived and was educated in Lahore, Kapurthala, Meerut, Dehradun, Rampur and Unnao.
In a career spanning over six decades from 1940 to 2007, Pran acted in around 361 movies. The actor began his career as a photographer in 1940, but started his career as an actor from “Yamla Jat” in Lahore in 1940 at the age of 20.
After the partition of India Pran travelled to Bombay and got a role in Bombay Talkies’ film “Ziddi”, in which Dev Anand played the lead role. Perhaps that was the film that groomed his career in Hindi Film Industry and the Industry got a versatile actor who was a perfect hero, a talented villain and a lovable character artist in one line. It is said that he brought new mannerisms and style and lent new dimensions to his characters.
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Some of Pran’s best films are – ‘Kashmir ki Kali’, ’Khandaan’, ‘Aurat’, ‘Bari Behen’, ‘Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai’, ‘Half Ticket’, ‘Upkar’, ‘Purab Aur Paschim’, ’Don’. Some of his popular movies are – “Azaad”, “Madhumati”, “Devdas”, “Dil Diya Dard Liya”, “Ram Aur Shyam”, “Aadmi”, “Ziddi”, “Munimji”, “Amardeep”, “Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai”, “Chori Chori”, “Chhalia”, “Zanjeer”, “Bari Behen”, Naseeb, Nastik, Sharabi and “Johnny Mera Naam”.
Besides the Dada Saheb Phalke award, Pran has received the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award in 1967, 1969 and 1972 and was awarded with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. He was awarded as the ‘Villain of the Millennium’ by Stardust in 2000. The Government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan in 2001. In 2010, he was named among the top 25 Asian actors of all time, on the list of CNN.
Pran was married to Shukla Ahluwalia in 1945 and the couple had two sons, Arvind and Sunil and a daughter Pinky.
The last rites of the actor will be conducted on Saturday at 12 p.m. at the Shivaji Park. Pran’s condition was fragile since the past few months, when he was in and out of the hospital multiple times.
RIP Pran!
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