{"id":6813,"date":"2022-12-18T10:07:59","date_gmt":"2022-12-18T04:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=6813"},"modified":"2022-12-18T13:10:02","modified_gmt":"2022-12-18T07:40:02","slug":"balraj-sahni-an-institution-of-acting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/balraj-sahni-an-institution-of-acting\/","title":{"rendered":"Balraj Sahni \u2013 An Institution of Acting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Balraj

Balraj Sahni<\/p><\/div>\n

A list to name ten greatest actors of Hindi cinema is incomplete without Balraj Sahni. This powerhouse of talent contributed to the success of acclaimed filmmakers like Chetan Anand, Bimal Roy, B R Chopra, K A Abbas, and M S Sathyu in some of the greatest films ever made in this country.<\/p>\n

Balraj was a luminary of the 50s theatre movement IPTA with numerous plays to his credit. He changed various avatars before settling as an actor in the Bombay film industry. In a career span of more than 25 years, Balraj played a wide variety of roles displaying an unusually strong intensity in each. The difficult the role, the better the performance.<\/p>\n

Born on May 1, 1913 in Rawalpindi, Balraj was named Yudhishthir. He graduated in Hindi and did his masters in English Literature from Government College, Lahore before joining the family business in Rawalpindi. Being influenced by his professor Jaswantrai\u2019s persona, Balraj eventually married the professor\u2019s daughter Damyanti. The couple was blessed with two children \u2013 Parikshit and Shabnam. Their creative yearnings led them to launch a weekly newspaper \u2013 Monday Morning<\/em>. The journal didn\u2019t do well due to marketing and investment constraints and was discontinued in six months. Balraj turned to Rabindranath Tagore\u2019s Shantiniketan in West Bengal in the late thirties to take up teaching. Being stationed in a creative hub, Damyanti completed her masters, while Balraj began to experiment with theatre.<\/p>\n

\"Balraj

Balraj Sahni and his wife Damyanti<\/p><\/div>\n

During an educational seminar, Balraj was introduced to Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji<\/em> called the couple to Vardha for an Indian National Congress conference to pen the Hindi and English report. In 1940, with the help of Mahatma Gandhi, Sahni moved to London to work with BBC London\u2019s Hindi service as a radio announcer. The couple stayed for three years in London and Damyanti used the opportunity to learn acting.<\/p>\n

Balraj returned to India in 1944. His childhood friends Chetan and Dev Anand were struggling in films in Bombay. Balraj joined them and got bit roles in Phani Majumdar\u2019s Insaaf \/Justice<\/em> and Dur Chalen<\/em> (both released in 1946). Balraj got his first major role in films in K A Abbas\u2019 much acclaimed Dharti Ke Lal<\/em><\/a>. Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar composed the music for this film. Damyanti was cast opposite him in this film.<\/p>\n

Dev also got his break in 1946 with PL Santoshi\u2019s Hum Ek Hain<\/em>, and Chetan\u2019s first film Neecha Nagar<\/em> was eventually completed in 1947. By then Balraj had also established himself as a theatre luminary in the Indian People\u2019s Theatre Movement (IPTA) winning accolades as an actor in Prithviraj Kapoor\u2019s Deewaar<\/em> and as a director with K A Abbas scripted Zubaida.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Dharti<\/a>

Balraj Sahni’s first major role was in KA Abbas’ Dharti ke Lal<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Balraj couldn\u2019t enjoy his newfound success for long as Damyanti passed away in 1947, leaving him shattered. This personal tragedy made him decide to settle in Bombay for good after the country\u2019s partition. Balraj married his cousin Santosh Chandok in 1949.<\/p>\n

\"poster

A creative poster of Dur Chalen<\/em> (1946)<\/p><\/div>\n

Balraj\u2019s next film Gunjan<\/em> (1948) was opposite Nalini Jaywant whose husband Virendra Desai had produced and directed the project. The film failed but Balraj got noticed as an actor of potential. The legendary K Asif cast him in Hulchul<\/em> (1951) where \u2013 for the first time \u2013 he shared the screen space with the iconic Dilip Kumar and held his own against the star. Being associated with IPTA and known for his leftist leanings, Balraj was arrested as part of a government crackdown on communists in 1951. During the period of his arrest, he attended the shooting of Asif\u2019s Hulchul<\/em> under special permission from the government!<\/p>\n

\"Navketan's

Balraj wrote the screenplay for Navketan’s Baazi<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Balraj zoomed to the top league as a scriptwriter with Navketan\u2019s Baazi<\/em>. This film\u2019s super success changed the fortunes of many. It was the first hit of Navketan, the debut of Guru Dutt as director, the second huge hit of Dev Anand after Shahid Latif\u2019s Ziddi<\/em>, and a launch pad to big league for lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi and music director S D Burman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Balraj\u2019s next hit as an actor was Zia Sarhadi\u2019s Hum Log<\/em> (1951) opposite Nutan<\/a>. K A Abbas cast him in Rahi<\/em> (1953) with Dev Anand and Nalini Jaywant. He began getting stellar roles in big banners. He was seen opposite Nadira in Akash<\/em> (1953) and opposite Nirupa Roy in the cult classic Do Bigha Zameen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Bimal

Balraj Sahni and Nirupa Roy in Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zameen<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Bimal Roy\u2019s Do Bigha Zameen<\/em><\/a> is considered one of the best films of the actor\u2019s career. The film won an international prize at the Cannes Film Festival, besides winning numerous awards back home. Sahni had actually learnt to pull rickshaw on the streets of Calcutta, amidst other rickshaw pullers! Bimal Roy was not too keen to cast Sahni initially because he found the star too polished and educated to be able to carry off the role of an uneducated villager to perfection. Sahni eventually proved his mettle in a role that has gone down in the annals of Hindi cinema as one of the finest characters ever essayed on the silver screen.<\/p>\n

The success of Do Bigha Zameen<\/em> was followed by acclaimed performances in Bazooband<\/em> (1954), Aulad<\/em> (1954), Garm Coat<\/em> (1955), Jawaab<\/em> (1955), Seema<\/em> (1955) and Taksaal<\/em> (1956). In Amiya Chakraborty\u2019s Seema<\/em><\/a>, the prayer Tu pyar ka sagar hai, teri ek boond ke pyaase hum<\/em> written by Shailendra and composed by Shankar-Jaikishan swept emotions across the country. Filmmakers began to swear by Balraj Sahni\u2019s versatility. When he played a character, he lived it.<\/p>\n

Bimal Roy repeated Balraj Sahni as a protagonist in the screen adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore\u2019s Kabuliwala.<\/em> Released in 1961, the film added another milestone to the actor\u2019s shining career. Chetan Anand\u2019s Haqeeqat <\/em>(1964) widely acknowledged as the best war film ever made in the country had Balraj in a stellar role. The Kaifi Azmi song Kar chale hum fida jaan-o-tan saathiyon<\/em> still gives goosebumps to the listeners.<\/p>\n

\"Do

Balraj Sahni and Prem Chopra in Do Raaste<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\"AK

AK Hangal and Balraj Sahni in MS Sathyu’s Garam Hawa<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

In 1965, in the B R Chopra classic Waqt<\/em> Balraj sang O meri zohra jabeen<\/em> to Achla Sachdev amidst thunderous applause in theatres. In the seventies Balraj delivered a landmark performance in Garam Hawa<\/em><\/a> \u2013 directed by M S Sathyu \u2013 the film is widely acknowledged as the best film ever made on the country\u2019s partition.<\/p>\n

The year Garam Hawa<\/em> was released, on 13th<\/sup> April 1973, Balraj died of cardiac arrest. His last outstanding performance would continue to inspire generations of actors.<\/p>\n

(All pictures are courtesy SMM Ausaja Archives)<\/em><\/p>\n

More to read<\/strong><\/p>\n

Phani Majumdar: A Journey Through Life\u2026<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Main Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya \u2013 Evergreen Dev Anand<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Bimalda Spread Happiness\u2019 \u2013 Jagdeep on Bimal Roy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dharti ke Lal \u2013 Earliest Depiction of the Great Bengal Famine<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Garam Hawa: India\u2019s Living Dead<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Balraj Sahni was an actor par excellence. And beyond his histrionic talents, he was also a writer, screenwriter, teacher, radio announcer and theatre artist. SMM Ausaja explores the life and works of the multifaceted artist. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":579,"featured_media":6830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[424],"tags":[2302,513,66,518,2261,2399,2352,515],"class_list":["post-6813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-cinema-retrospectives","tag-balraj-sahni","tag-guide-dev-anand","tag-garam-hawa","tag-guru-dutt","tag-khwaja-ahmad-abbas","tag-ms-sathyu","tag-phani-majumdar","tag-sd-burman"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6813"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6835,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6813\/revisions\/6835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}