Jeejaji
On December 19, 2019, actor Om Prakash turned 100.
He had enthralled Hindi filmgoers for almost six decades and from fifties right up to late eighties/ early nineties of the last century, he became a permanent feature in our lives.
ShowMyFlix celebrates the centenary of veteran actor Om Prakash.
Born in Lahore, Om Prakash started life with All India Radio in 1937 at a salary of Rs 25/ per month. He was attracted by the theatre and classical music and started learning music when he was just twelve. During his Radio days he played the character of Fateh Din and almost overnight became famous in Punjab.
His entry into film was hilarious if not dramatic. He had once gone as a barati to a friend’s wedding where he danced. A Lahore based filmmaker Dalsukh Pancholi saw him dancing and asked Om Prakash to meet him. When Om Prakash reached Lahore, he called up Pancholi who denied having asked any Om Prakash to come and meet him. Saddened, Om Prakash decided to return home that very night and to kill time, visited a Pan Shop where he met Pran to whom he narrated his story. It was Pran who set things right by telling him that the person Pancholi invited was fateh Din, not Om Prakash. The comedy of errors resolved the matter and since then Om Prakash acted in 307 films. And with every major actor or actress in some film or the other.
Even though he had started off with lead roles in the early fifties, he moved on to doing character roles and established an admirable bandwidth that stands unmatched even today. He played comic characters, he played tragic characters and most importantly, in many films played the pivotal role in films like Phagun, Julie and Chupke Chupke.
Coming to his playing tragic roles, it is said that for his role in Gopi, the Tragedy King Dilip Kumar had confessed that just once he thought he would be dethroned from his “tragedy persona” by Om Prakash for his performance in Gopi.
His very presence as a comedian lit up many situations, like in Howrah Bridge, Padosan, Dus Lakh, Namal Halal. No matter whoever were the lead actors, Om Prakash seemed to over shadow all of them with ease and it was his performance that was remembered for decades and are talked of even today.
Om Prakash had a special chemistry with Amitabh Bachchan whom he considered to be the Paul Muni of India. Between Zanzeer to Sharabi he had played a number of memorable roles alongside Amitabh Bachchan. Not to mention, the immortal Daddu!
It is said that after his early failures when Mr Bachchan wanted to leave the industry and go back to Kolkata, it was Om Prakash who almost physically prevented him and impressed upon him to stay back.
The Hindi film industry were once full of such iconic characters like Om Prakash who continue to live with the younger generation as the endearing Jeejai or the loving Daddu.
Courtesy : Artpickles