Pran Krishan Sikand
Sher Khan Khud Aaya Tha aur Khud chala bhi Jaayega – those were the words spoken by Pran on screen in his superhit movie with Amitabh Bachchan, Zanjeer.
The man who played possibly every shade of the good, the bad and the different Pran Krishan Sikand is no longer with us but his craft as an actor will always be remembered.
Pran was born on February 12, 1920 in Ballimaran in Kotgarh Old Delhi, into a wealthy Punjabi family. He was son to a civil engineer and civil contractor Kewal krishan Sikand and mother Rameshwari. He was one of seven siblings. With the aspiration of becoming an ace photographer Pran in his early days joined A das & Co, which took him to Shimla.
It was here where Pran played Sita in a local staging, with the role of Ram being played by Madan Puri.
A chance meeting with the writer, Wali Mohammad Wali, who worked for Dalsukh M. Pancholi, at a shop in Hira Mandi, Lahore, led to Pran winning his first role in Pancholi’s Punjabi film Yamla Jat
He started his movie career with Yamla Jat and he acted in 21 Punjabi movies till 1946, all villains. His Punjabi film career ended with Partition. He was in Lahore when partition happened.
He started working in Delmar Hotel, Marine Drive in Mumbai and eight months later, in 1948, he got a chance to start all over again.
After eight months of arriving in Mumbai, Pran — with the help of writer Saadat Hasan Manto and actor Shyam — got a break as a Hindi villain in Shaheed Latif’s Ziddi, starring Dev Anand and Kamini Kaushal. which gave second chance to his career.
The film also proved to be Dev Anand’s big break as a hero, and there was no turning back for Pran thereafter. By 1950 he got established gradually as a premier villain in Hindi cinema. Within a week of Ziddi’s success, he signed three more films; S M Yusuf’s Grihasti, which became a diamond jubilee hit, Prabhat Film’s Apradhi and Wali Mohammad’s Putli.
Between 1948 and 54 this young man carved his own niche and became a sought after person to play the bad man in the industry. He was also wanted in soft roles. He gave both genres his own touch. It is believed that the villain was shown in such light that people hated naming their children Pran.
His first Hindi film as the lead hero was Khandaan in 1942 then after partition it was Pilpili Saheb in 1954 and later Halaku in 1956.
He was regularly offered the role of the main villains or of negative characters in the films with Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor as the lead hero in the 1950s and 60’s.
In the 1960’s and early 70’s, even though he was in his forties, his demand in the film market never went down and he was given pivotal roles as a character of the age range of 25 to 30 in films with Shammi Kapoor, Joy Mukherjee, Rajendra Kumar and Dharmendra.
Pran was at the peak of his career in the 1969-1982. Some of his memorable hits were Majboor, Zanjeer, Kasauti, Don, Ganga Ki Saugandh, Amar Akbar Anthony and Nastik among others.
Pran had started accepting more versatile roles since the late 1960s; he occasionally accepted the role of a bad man in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Post 90s he did not act accept movies except few Amitabh bachchan starrers.
In a long and prolific career he appeared in over 350 films. His roles in the films like Madhumati, Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai, Upkar, Shaheed, Aansoo Ban Gaye Phool, Johny Mera Naam, Victoria No. 203, Be-Imaan, Zanjeer, Don and Duniya are considered to be among his best performances.
Pran has received numerous awards and honours in his career. He won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award in 1967, 1969 and 1972 and was awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. He was awarded as the ‘Villain of the Millennium’ by Stardust in 2000. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 2001 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2013 for his contributions towards Indian cinema. In 2010, he was named on the list of CNN’s Top 25 Asian actors of all time.
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