Pran Krishan Sikand, better known by his mononym, Pran, was an Indian actor, known as a movie villain and character actor in Hindi cinema from the 1940s to the 1990s. He played hero roles from 1940–47, a villain from 1942–1991, and played supporting and character roles from 1948–2007.
Biography
Pran was one of the dominant character actors of Hindi cinema. Pran did his studies at different cities namely Unnao, Kapurthala, Dehradun, Meerut, and Rampur. Pran began his professional career by learning the art of photography in Lahore. A chance meeting with a film producer landed him in his first break in the Punjabi language film ‘Yamla Jat’ in the year 1940.
After partition in 1947, Pran relocated to Mumbai and furthered his film career after a minor struggle. In his career, he acted in over 400 films in different roles. He was best known as a villain. His best film in negative roles is ‘Ram Aur Shyam’. People used to shiver with fear and detested him, and yet loved him as the kind, memorable ‘Mangal chacha’ in the film ‘Upkar’. He worked in films with the mainstream actors of different decades from Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Dev Anand, Dharmendra to Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, and Salman Khan. He was the highest paid and arguably the most sought-after character actors of his era, starring in some of the most acclaimed and biggest hit films of all time.
In an illustrious career which lasted almost six decades, Pran was conferred with many awards. For his contribution, India Government awarded him the third highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan in 2000 and the DadaSaheb Phalke Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2012.
| BIRTHDAY | 12 February, 1920 (Thursday) |
|---|---|
| BIRTH PLACE | Delhi |
| COUNTRY | India |
| AGE (in 2013) | 93 Years Old |
| BIRTH SIGN | Aquarius |
| HEIGHT | in centimeters- 170 cm in meters- 1.7 m in Feet Inches- 5’ 6” |
| WEIGHT | in Kilograms- 75 kg in Pounds- 165.35 lbs |
| CASTE | N/A |
Honours & Awards
| AWARD NAME | AWARD CATEGORY | RECEIPT YEAR | RECEIPT FIELD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Padma Bhushan | Civilian Award | 2001 | Arts |
| Dadasaheb Phalke Award | Indian Cinema Award | 2012 | Hindi Film Industry |
Death Info
He died on 12 July 2013 at the age of 93 after a prolonged illness in Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital.
| DEATHDAY | DEATH PLACE | DEATH COUNTRY |
|---|---|---|
| 12 July, 2013 | Mumbai, Maharashtra | India |
Pran Family, Relatives and Other Relations
He was born to Lala Kewal Krishnan Sikand & Rameshwari Sikand. He has three brothers named Prem Krishen, Raj Krishen & Kripal Krishen and three sisters. He was married to Shukla Sikand since 1945. The couple together had three children including two sons named Sunil Sikand and Arvind Sikand and a daughter named Pinky Sikand. His brother Sunil is a film director who is known for film Lakshmanrekha & Farishta.
