Pran was one of the leading character actors of Indian cinema. He was born on 12 February,1920 at Delhi. Pran was educated at different places namely Kapurthala, Unnao, Meerut, Dehradun and Rampur as his father late Lala Kewal Krishnan Sikand was a Government Civil Contractor for the construction of roads and bridges. Pran started his career by learning photography in Lahore. A chance meeting with a film producer, got him his first break in ‘Yamla Jat’ in 1940.Married in 1945 to Shukla, he had two sons Arvind and Sunil, and one daughter Pinky. At partition in 1947, Pran came to Mumbai and restarted his film career after a brief struggle. He acted in over 400 films in a variety of roles. As a villain, in films like ‘Ram Aur Shyam’ people shuddered with fear and hated him, and yet loved him as the good, unforgettable ‘Mangal chacha’ in ‘Upkar’. He went on to star in films with the leading actors of various decades from Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Rajendra Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra to Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol and Salman Khan. He was among the highest paid and most sought after character actors of his time, starring in some of the biggest and most acclaimed films of all time.Being a sports lover and a good sportsmen he had his own football team “Dynamos Football Club”” which he financed for a number of years in the fifties. Along with his film career he had been engaged in a number of Social activities, including the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, Maratha Sikshan Sanatha, Film Industry Welfare Trust. He had organised charity events and cricket matches, as well as the ‘Hope 86’ and ‘Hope 87’ shows for the needy people in the film industry.Under the patronage of the Late, His Excellency Nawab Ali Yawar Jung, Pran presented a number of charity shows for the refugees of Bangladesh and for the deaf and dumb.In an illustrious career of over six decades, Pran was bestowed with many awards including 4 Filmfare Awards, Villain of the Millennium honour from Stardust, Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian award from the Government of India in 2000 and the DadaSaheb Phalke Award for Lifetime Achievement (highest honour for cinema in India) from the Government of India in 2012. He died on 12 July 2013 at the age of 93 after a prolonged illness in Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital.”
Pran Sikand
Movies
1942 A Love Story
Circa British rule over India in the year 1942 where Indians are either revolutionaries or supporters of the British. In the midst there is wealthy Narendra Singh alias Naren whose romance with a poor yet beautiful girl, Rajeshwari Pathak alias Rajjo brew changes over the entire scenario but unfortunately there…
Kaalia
Kaalia – A name that spells terror in the minds of people, and the police but Kaalia was not always like this. Years ago he was a mere simpleton. Living simply in a shanty ch awl with his elder brother, Shyamlal, Bhabhi (Sister – in – law), whom he adored…
Kashmir Ki Kali
Rajiv has come of age; his now-dead father had built up a flourishing business and had become a millionaire, and his widowed Mother wants to keep Rajiv on the straight and narrow. The best way would be to find him a good wife to encourage him to settle down. But…
Ek Hindustani
Sunil Shrivastava (Suniel Shetty), is the son of a freedom fighter (Pran), who fought against the British regime for Indian independence. His father knew what slavery meant and also made him understand the same. He believed that, “It was better to die than to live as coward”. With such intention…
Amar Akbar Anthony
A ex-convict must flee his mob boss, leaving his family to fend for themselves. His wife goes blind and his children are abandoned. They are adopted by a Hindu policeman, a Muslim tailor, and a Catholic priest. The Hindu-raised son becomes a policeman in his turn; his Muslim-raised brother becomes…
Sawan Ki Ghata
Gopal and Seema are two small children who live in a small town in India. While Gopal lives with Bansilal, who he believes to be his father, the much more wealthy Seema lives with her dad, Rana, who does not approve of her friendship with Gopal. He wants Bansilal to…
Shahenshah
An underworld criminal name JK is involved in terrorism as well as criminal activities, he also intervene in government affairs and is a crook in the book. When an honest police inspector Srivastav attempts to expose JK he is framed and evidences are tampered with so he is unable to…
Gumnaam
At a night club 7 seven people win a lucky draw where the get an holiday package.The plane they are traveling develops a snag and makes emergency landing in the jungle.The plane dumps luggage of all the members including a co pilot and flies back leaving everyone stranded in the…
Half Ticket
It is the story of a kind-hearted playful young man (Vijay). Unable to withstand his pranks his father drives him out of his home. He goes about his life doing odd jobs but never lasts longer than few days in one place. He meets a girl with dreamy eyes (Rajini)…
Nastik
Shankar (Amitabh Bachchan) grows up as a Nastik (athiest) because his father got murdered by Tiger and his mother and sister got torched in their house and blamed God for doing nothing. After his father, mother and sister got killed, he decided to bring justice himself and the child Shankar…
Jheel Ke Us Paar
Kulwant Rai’s horse carriage runs over a child, and as a result, she loses her vision. Years later she grows up to be beautiful girl namely, Neelu (Mumtaz), and Kulwant Rai’s son, Sameer (Dharmendra) takes a fancy to her. This fancy turns to love, and he proposes to marry her.…
Fun Facts
Ashok Kumar and Pran were best friends and have acted in 27 films together from 1951-1987 and had 20 super-hit films together.
Pran was among the highest paid supporting actors of his time.
Pran and Amitabh Bachchan worked together in several super hit films - Zanjeer (1973), Majboor (1974), Kasauti (1974), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), Ganga Ki Saugandh (1978), Don (1978), Dostana (1980), Naseeb (1981), Kaalia (1981), Nastik (1983), Andha Kanoon (1983), Sharaabi (1984) that are among the top grossing films of 1970s and 1980s. Toofan (1989) , Jaadugar (1989) and Mrityudaata (1997) are the only Pran - Amitabh Bachchan starrers that are flops.
In the decade of 60's from 1960-69 he appeared in 60 Hindi movies and 1 Bengali movie Sonai Dighe- which is a record in Hindi films for an actor not playing heroes role but either character actor or a villain's role.His demand as an actor grew bigger from late 1950's and reached its peak from 1965-1982.He did 62 movies in decade of 1950's and 60 in 1960's.
His first film as a hero was Punjabi film Khandaan in 1942 opposite Noor-Jehan and first film as a villain was Punjabi film Yamla Jat in 1940. He acted in 22 Hindi movies from 1940-1946 and 18 got released by 1947 and remaining 4 got released in Pakistan after Partition.
Pran did 9 films with Shashi Kapoor as the lead hero and 7 of them were hits.In 1952 in film Sanskaar, Shashi had worked as a child artist with Pran.
Pran had done Aurat (1967) where Rajesh Khanna was supporting actor and Pran was the main male lead and in 1971 Maryada which was a 2 hero film with Pran as villain. Pran did 6 more films with Rajesh Khanna from 1983-1987 and of them Souten, Jaanwar(1983), Bewafai, Durgaa were hits and Gora was their only flops and 1 film Bayen Haath Ka Khel remains unreleased.
Prakash Mehra cast Pran in memorable supporting roles in 9 directorial ventures of his.
Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar's career began in late 50's and ended in early 1970's but Pran continued to get pivotal roles.
His children were sent to boarding school in their fifth standard.
Pran successfully complemented every leading actor from Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Rajendra Kumar to Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Salman Khan as a character actor.
Pran's first car in India was a Hillman.
Pran had three brothers and three sisters.
Pran's first ever acting role was Sita to Madan Puri's Ram in Shimla, at a local Ramlila in 1938.
Ashok Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Manoj Kumar, Prakash Mehra, Shashi Kapoor, Kishore Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar were very close friends of Pran.
Pran was an avid collector of smoke pipes. He also had a fascination of collecting walking sticks, some of which had hidden swords.
Pran has acted in a television series called Baap Se Bada Rupaiya, on Doordarshan. Pran also acted as a detective in the television serial "They Call Me Dangerous"" in the late '90s. He was ""Mr. Dangerous"" in that serial.
Pran wanted to be a photographer and was working in a shop in Shimla where he learned photography from 1936-39. Then he went to Lahore