Dharmendra remembers the iconic film badman, the Gentleman Villain Pran, in this Subhash K Jha feature celebrating Pran’s incredible career.
During his prime crime-time, Pran instilled a reign of terror in the hearts of Indian humanity. So much so that parents ceased to name their children Pran during this arch-villain takeover on the big screen.
Born Pran Sikand, the villain-to-be never dreamt of becoming a film actor in his youth. After his basic education, Pran became a photographer’s apprentice. The vocation took him from location to location. One day in Lahore, Pran was loitering at a paan shop when a leading screenplay writer Walli Mohamed Walli walked up to him and offered him a role in a Punjabi film called Yamala Jat produced by the renowned Dalsukh Pancholi.
Taking it to be crank offer Pran forgot about it, only to be accosted by Walli a few days later at another venue.
Yamala Jat in Punjabi became a super hit. Pran became a villain much in demand. In Hindi, Pran’s first film was Khandaan. Noorjehan was Pran’s costar. The Partition of India flung Pran from Lahore to Mumbai where his career as a villain took off in a massively after the blockbuster success of a film entitled Grihasti. Such was his popularity as a villain that Pran was paid more than the hero in Apradhi.
So popular was Pran’s villainy in a film called Halaaku that he became a superstar villain thereafter and an essential cast member of all big-budget films in the 60s. In the 70s, Pran re-invented himself as a character actor of import. Earlier, he had played a sympathetic character in Manoj Kumar’s Upkar at the height of his villainous days. But it was Adhikaar in 1971 that started Pran’s career as a patriarchal dogooder.
In his avatar as a character actor, Pran excelled in films like Zanjeer, Majboor, Kasauti and Sharaabi, where he provided Amitabh Bachchan with a strong supporting presence. In Raj Kapoor’s Bobby, Pran was excellent as Rishi Kapoor’s tyrannical father. But his best role and performance as a character actor was in Brij Sadanah’s Victoria 203. Sharing a parodical partnership with Ashok Kumar Pran rip-roared across the screen, creating another bout of post-villainous stardom for himself.
Get-ups and disguises were an essential part of Pran’s performances. This gentleman actor laid as much stress on the externalities of a performance as the internalities. This penchant for physical preparation has its roots in D.D.Kashyap’s Halaaku, where his disguise as a despotic ruler ruled the box office. Thereafter Pran experimented with an assortment of looks to create a memorable gallery of characters—the lame Malang Chacha in Upkar, the tipsy Michael in Majboor , the man disguised in drag in Jungle Mein Mangal , the ruthless dacoit in Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai , the passionate Pathan in Zanjeer (Pran turned down the role of the Pathan in Manoj Kumar’s Roti Kapada Aur Makaan since he was playing one in Zanjeer !), the financially bankrupt aristocrat clinging to lost glory in Aan Baan.
Look carefully into these unforgettable roles. You’d find an immortal song associated with the character in each case. For instance,’ Yaari hai imaan mera’ and ‘Michael Daru peeta hai’ were Pran’s songs in Zanjeer and Majboor , respectively.
With the influx of a new generation of punk villains in the 1990s, Pran couldn’t make a comeback as a villain, though he tried valiantly in Saawan Kumar’s Sanam Bewafaa in the mid-90s. The roles dried up, and Pran even dabbled in some lowbrow television programmes simply because he loved the smell of greasepaint.
We look back with fond nostalgia at Pran’s long and distinguished career. No character actor has survived so many fads and trends in mainstream Hindi cinema. No actor has displayed so much range and scared so many film watchers by narrowing his eyes into an expression of avarice and evil. Even when Pran played the villain repeatedly, he still succeeded in bringing variety and vitality to his screen parts. Every screen villain who came after Pran followed him as a role model. His exemplary self-discipline and passion for the art and craft of the cinema are going to be talked about for as long as we see those moving images on screen, known as motion pictures.
Dharmendra Fondly Recalls The Gentleman Villain Pran:
“Ah, Pran Saab! He was one of his kind….Very, very kind… Not a mean bone on his body. Yun to log jaane ke baad tareef san karte hain (people say only good things about those who are gone). But Pran Saab was a true gentleman. He wouldn’t hurt a fly. Onscreen, he was such a tyrant. Audiences used to shiver at the mention of his name. It is said that parents wouldn’t name their children ‘Pran’ during their heydays. I don’t know how far this is true…This was long before Gabbar…Pran Saab was the ruling villain. I worked with him in innumerable films: there was no way one could escape working with him during those days. I think the first film I did with him was Pooja Ke Phool (1964). He was in every other film those days. I miss him.”
