There are villains and there are villains. The stylised K.N. Singh, Jeevan with the hain hain hain dialogue-utterance, the leching Manmohan, the gun-toting MacMohan aka Sambha, the leering Prem Chopra, the rapist Ranjit, and the one with lots of Mona-Sona one-liners yaane ke Ajit, but there was a guy who was a class apart-Pran. These are my memories of him, in tribute. He passed away last night.
I think I clearly remember him from a few films, in which he was really bad. Brahmachari starring Shammi Kapoor and Rajshri was one of them. There were a lot of other films from that era. He was, I remember, always well-dressed, and might give a complex to some of the tapori heroes of today.
The next I remember of him was the role he played with such elan in Zanjeer. He was ther perfect foil for the angry young man of Amitabh, and I doubt if the film would have worked without him. His song was also a rage in a movie that had no good song situations. Yaari hai imaan mera is well-recognised even today-one of Manna Dey's best. He had also turned a leaf from his villainy by now.
Don was another classic pot-boiler brought alive by a good script (rare in India) and brilliant acting by Pran and Amitabh. His dialogue delivery was at times better than Amitabh's in the movie, and that's saying a lot. His song in another Amitabh film, Majboor 'Phir na kehna Michael daru peeke danga karta hai' also was a rage, and I still remember it.
One more fun film of his was Victoria no.203, where he and Ashok Kumar brought the house down with their antics, and the song 'Do Bechare bina sahare dekho pooch pooch kar haare'.
Johny Mera Naam where he played Dev Anand's brother, and Des Pardes where he reprised that relationship, this time with an NRI angle to it (he migrates to England, starts a pub and goes missing) were two other memorable roles. He also had a good one in Amar Akbar Anthony, and sang a song "Hum bolega to bologe ke bolta hai' in Kasauti.
I think I clearly remember him from a few films, in which he was really bad. Brahmachari starring Shammi Kapoor and Rajshri was one of them. There were a lot of other films from that era. He was, I remember, always well-dressed, and might give a complex to some of the tapori heroes of today.
The next I remember of him was the role he played with such elan in Zanjeer. He was ther perfect foil for the angry young man of Amitabh, and I doubt if the film would have worked without him. His song was also a rage in a movie that had no good song situations. Yaari hai imaan mera is well-recognised even today-one of Manna Dey's best. He had also turned a leaf from his villainy by now.
Don was another classic pot-boiler brought alive by a good script (rare in India) and brilliant acting by Pran and Amitabh. His dialogue delivery was at times better than Amitabh's in the movie, and that's saying a lot. His song in another Amitabh film, Majboor 'Phir na kehna Michael daru peeke danga karta hai' also was a rage, and I still remember it.
One more fun film of his was Victoria no.203, where he and Ashok Kumar brought the house down with their antics, and the song 'Do Bechare bina sahare dekho pooch pooch kar haare'.
Johny Mera Naam where he played Dev Anand's brother, and Des Pardes where he reprised that relationship, this time with an NRI angle to it (he migrates to England, starts a pub and goes missing) were two other memorable roles. He also had a good one in Amar Akbar Anthony, and sang a song "Hum bolega to bologe ke bolta hai' in Kasauti.
2 comments:
Pran na raha has an eerie pun in it
Actually, Raza Murad said something like "Hamare Pran ab nahi rahe. Pran sahab industry ki jaan the, woh hamari shaan the" at his funeral at Shivaji Park.
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