K N Singh

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K.N. Singh had studied law yet he quit it Before films K.N. Singh was suppose to work as an advocate like his distinguished father. He had completed his Law and had even become the member of Bar Association however an ugly incident changed his mind and he quit law. Recalling the ugly incident K.N. Singh in an interview revealed, “I was at a guest house in Dehra Dun. In my presence a woman was murdered by an eminent personality of the city. But despite everyone knowing who had killed the woman, nobody came forward due to fear of the influential man and the man moved scot free thanks to the expertise of my father, a criminal lawyer.” He added, “This bitter incident made me change my mind. I told my dad that I cannot defend a criminal personal for sake of money!” After quitting law, K.N. Singh tried luck in sports Tall, well-build and a passionate sportsman, K.N. Singh after quitting Law decided to follow sports as career. He was a national level champion in Short Put and Javelin events. To his luck he was selected to represent India at the prestigious Berlin Olympics in 1935 but destiny had other plans. When he was ready to fly to Berlin suddenly he was called back by his family. Singh says, “My elder sister had an eye surgery and her husband was in England due to urgent office work, hence my sister called me to help her. I sacrificed a golden opportunity of my sports career for my sister’s care.”

K.N. Singh had a hurried marriage K.N. Singh married Praveen Paul on 13 July 1937 but his marriage was a hurried event because he was shooting for the film Vidyapati in Kolkata, when his father called for marriage at Dehra Duna. He took permission from production company to go but was asked to come back immediately as the set had to be dismantled soon. Hence he had to rush back. “I did not even have the pleasure of having reception, clicking of photographs and going on honeymoon, “laments K.N. Singh

Actor Prithviraj Kapoor introduced K.N. Singh into films Indian cinema’s most revered actor Prithviraj Kapoor, used to travel all over India and perform Theater. Once in Kolkata, Prithviraj Kapoor saw K.N. Singh and was impressed by his dashing and macho personality. He immediately took him to the legendary filmmaker D.K. Bose, who was regarded as A-Grade filmmaker and had made many hit films like Rajrani Meera, Life is a Stage, Seeta etc. K.N. Singh recalls, “D.K.Bose gave me a small doctor’s role in his film Sunehra Sansar (1936) on the recommendation of Prithviraj Kapoor. The film was hit and Bose was impressed by my talent and personality. Hence in his next film Hawaii Daku, he made me a hero but the film failed.” He added, “On the other hand my third film Ananthashram, in which I played a villain became super hit. Hence film legend A.R. Kardar signed me as a villain in film Vidyapati, opposite Prithviraj Kapoor in lead. The film broke all box office records and I was stereotyped as a villain.” Filmmaker A.R. Kardar employs K.N. Singh in his company Kardar Productions Overwhelmed by K.N. Singh’s genius as an actor and his sophistication as a person A.R. Kardar invited K.N. Singh to Mumbai and made him employee in his production house Kardar Production. Interestingly K.N. Singh’s first film for Kardar Production Baghban (1938) was golden jubilee hit. In this film too Singh played the villain. Later K.N. Singh became an independent actor and did many hit films in the 40’s like Sohrab Modi’s Sikandar (1941), Jwar Bhata (1944) (Dilip Kumar's film debut), Humayun (1945), Raj Kapoor’ Barsaat (1949). After this there was no looking back and K.N. Singh gave a string of hit films like Jaal (1952), CID (1956), Howrah Bridge (1958), Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Woh Kaun Thi? (1964), Amrapali (1966), An Evening in Paris (1967), Keemat (1973), Majboor (1974) , Aadalat (1976) , Agent Vinod (1977) etc