Pran's daughter Pinky shares memorable events of their life, as family marks his centenary birthday
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; February 12, 2020)

Hindi films' most celebrated villain Pran would have turned 100 today. The actor, who switched to playing character roles later in his career, passed away in 2013. While his family has not planned a mega celebration to mark the occasion, they will begin the day by visiting the Pran Chowk at Carter Road, Bandra, to pay floral tributes. The corner, which leads to Union Park, was named after him in 2018.

Pran's daughter Pinky Bhalla tells mid-day, "The family will get together at my place in Juhu. It will be a quiet affair, just the way he would have wanted it to be. We will go to the Pran Chowk in the day."

Though Pran's career spanned six decades, his three children kept their distance from the industry. An exception was son Sunil Sikand, who worked as an assistant to the late filmmaker Manmohan Desai, with whom Pran collaborated on several projects, including Dharam Veer (1977), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) and Naseeb (1981). Sunil directed Farishta (1984) and Lakshmanrekha (1991), which featured his father, but did not pursue Bollywood, thereafter.

"Now, Sunil leads a retired life in Goa," informs Bhalla. "My other brother Arvind Sikand is a businessman, based in London. He has been [living] there for decades."

Bhalla recalls that in their childhood, they were kept away from the industry. "We barely watched films. Dad made sure we had a normal upbringing. We never went on the sets or attended filmy events."

This stemmed from the fact that before Pran, the family had no connection with the industry. "It was a chance meeting with a film writer that landed him [Pran] his first role. The elders of the family realised only later that he was pursuing acting. Dad was born in Delhi, and did his schooling there. The family moved to Lahore, but returned to Delhi before the Partition."

Pran did not resort to any over-the-top gimmicks to make the villain look like a caricature. Flaunting suits and boots, and with his penetrating eyes, deep baritone and trademark whiff of the cigarette, he emerged to be among the most stylish and suave baddies in B-Town. His iconic catchphrase "Barkurdhar" was enough to instil fear among audiences, so much so that it is suggested that parents refused to name their kids Pran, owing to his menacing on-screen persona.

The actor's other memorable performances include Upkar (1967), Johnny Mera Naam (1970), Victoria No 203 (1972) and Don (1978). One of his most applauded acts was in the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Zanjeer (1973), which had the chartbuster, Yaari hai iman mera yaar meri zindagi.

Bhalla recalls that apart from acting, "dad was a cricket buff. He would not miss a single match when India was playing."

Even later on in his life, while he was ailing, he would stay abreast about matches, with the scores.


The family at Pran's 90th birthday celebration in 2010

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 12, 2020)

Today, Pran saab would have turned 100 and even though he took his final curtain call seven years ago, at the age of 93, he remains unforgettable. I remember, as a young girl, I had been fascinated by the perfect smoke rings he blew on screen. The first time he did it was back in 1949 in the teary melodrama, Bari Behen, which featured Suraiya and Geeta Bali as sisters. It went on to become his trademark.

A couple of days ago, when I asked his son how he did it, Sunil Sikand appeared surprised by the query. “He was doing it even at home, when we were kids. My father was a chain-smoker and at one time had smoked 100-120 cigarettes a day. Then, one day, when he was 57, he quit, overnight. I never saw him smoke again. He was usually an easy-going, amiable man, but he could be strong-willed when he wanted, and that showed in his work too. He was dedicated to his craft, asking for the song on a cassette and listening to it several times, even learning the words, before he went for the shoot,” he recounts.

Sunil adds that when he started assisting Manmohan Desai (he worked with the director in Amar Akbar Anthony, Parvarish, Dharam Veer and Suhaag), his father told him that the best AD is one who, when he is not around, makes his director feel his absence.

His favourite films from his father’s repertoire are Halaku and Shaheed , a picture in contrasts. The former was a 1956 period drama with Pran saab in the title role, as the imperious Mongol invader, grandson of Chengiz Khan, whose obsession with a Persian beauty in love with another man, makes him wilful and vengeful, but cannot completely erase his sense of honour. Manoj Kumar’s Shaheed was a smaller role, of a death row convict, daku Kehar Singh, who meets Bhagat Singh at Lahore Central Jail. He goes to the gallows wondering why a dacoit and a freedom fighter should be meted the same punishment.

“My father enjoyed doing both these films, along with others like Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai and Upkar. But he never watched any of his films, apart from the scenes featuring him during dubbing. He accidentally stumbled upon Zanjeer one afternoon on television, 20 years after its release, and called up Amitabh (Bachchan) to tell him he had liked his performance,” smiles the younger Sikand.

Interestingly, Sunil directed Amitabh and his father in a reincarnation drama titled Karishmaa. “It also featured Shashi Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore, Parveen Babi and Danny Denzongpa, but since I had known Amitabh for a long time, I decided to take the first shot on my father and him,” he informs. The film flagged off in 1978 but for some reason, was shelved.

Long before mothers began using the spectre of Gabbar Singh to instilterror and put their little ones to sleep, Pran saab would make them cower, clap their hands over their eyes, as soon as he appeared on screen. They would return to the film only after he was gone. Did the dreaded khalnayak of the movies keep to himself even in real life, you wonder, and Sunil exclaims, “On the contrary, he was a man who enjoyed the company of his friends, even our friends.” Dilip Kumar, whom his father opposed in films like Azaad, Devdas, Madhumati, Dil Diya Dard Liya and Ram Aur Shyam, lived in bungalow close by and Sunil remembers that when he was around 14-15 years, Dilip saab, sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by his sisters, would drop by for a game of dumb charades with the Sikand family.

“Despite his intense roles, my dad was a light-hearted man. Even his villainy in later years had a touch of comedy, in films like Kashmir Ki Kali and Khandan. In the latter, his character Naurangi Lal, was a spoof on Hitler, complete with a toothbrush moustache,” says Sunil who went on to direct Pran saab in two other films, Farishta and Lakshmanrekha.

In Lakshmanrekha, he played Naseeruddin Shah’s father who is killed by Danny and puts his son on the road to revenge. It had Jackie Shroff as a cop. Farishta, which came in ‘84, was written and directed by Sunil, with Pran saab in a small role of Khan chacha. “My father insisted on getting contact lenses and painting them over, so he’d looked convincing as a blind man,” reveals Sunil. And that’s what made him a visionary in B-town.