Om Prakash

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Om Prakash’s first role was of Sita in local Ramlila Om Prakash was born in an affluent family in Lahore. His father was a landlord and had vast acres of land in Lahore and Jammu. He lived in a bungalow. He was an acting buff since childhood. He loved watching Ramlila and his acting career started when he was 8 years. He played the role of Sita in his local Ramlila. He was attracted to music and had studied Indian classical music for 12 years.

Om Prakash sacrificed his love to please a widow Due to his radio show Om Prakash had a huge fan following. One among the many was a Sikh girl. Every day after the Radio show she met Om Prakash and the two went for a long drive. Soon love blossomed and they decided to marry. But one day a strange thing happened. An elderly widow approached Om Prakash and began pleading to marry his eldest daughter who was 16 years. She told him that she was widow and had four daughters but nobody is marrying them but if the elder daughter is married then others too would get grooms. The lady literally begged him to marry his daughter. This moved Om Prakash and he sacrificed his love to please the widow. Thankfully when Om Prakash informed his girl friend the reason behind his marriage, she understood and pardoned him. She even attended the wedding. He died on 21 February 1998 in Mumbai at the age of 78 years due to heart attack.

Om Prakash started his career on Radio Being a trained classical singer Om Prakash began his career with the prestigious AIR (All India Radio) in 1937 at the age of 18 years. He sang songs and acted in radio drama. He started his career with pseudonym Fateh Din. He earned Rs 25 per month (which was a huge amount in the late 30’). He was a passionate writer hence he scripted his own show. His show became a craze, particularly in Lahore and Punjab. The name Fateh Din became so popular that it created buzz in Lahore film industry. Om Prakash joined Dalsukh Pancholi production house Om Prakash was known to be fun loving person. Once at his friend’s wedding he won everybody’s heart with his amusing acts and songs. The wedding was also attended by Dalsukh Pancholi, a top film producer from Lahore. Like many, he too was overwhelmed by Om Prakash’s entertaining act. Next day Om Prakash found a letter from Dalsukh Pancholi production house inviting him to meet him. But Om Prakash could not believe that such a great filmmaker inviting him. He felt it was a prank but his friends insisted so he went but when he reached his office the gatekeeper kicked him out. Disappointed he returned back but in the evening he met Pran (famous bollywood actor) who was working at Dalsukh Pancholi production house and told him that Dalsukh Pancholi was waiting to meet him. When Om Prakash told him that he had visited him, Pran started laughing and said Dalsukh Pancholi is aware of Fateh Din and not Om Prakash. The misconception was removed and Om Prakash joined Dalsukh Pancholi production for healthy salary of Rs 80 per month. He made his debut with the film Daasi. He played a villain with a pinch of comedy. The film was huge hit. Om Prakash career got a boost with AVM’s hit film Bahar After partition Om Prakash came to Delhi and later to Mumbai. In Mumbai both Om Prakash and Pran had to struggle for roles. Om Prakash did minor roles but his career took a turn when he did Sargam (1950) staring Raj Kapoor. The movie brought him into limelight and he was given a big break in AVM studio’s film Bahar (1951). The film was a runaway hit and Om Prakash became a celebrated multi talented actor who could do comedy, emotion and play a villain efficiently. During the 50’s and 60’s Om Prakash became a star attraction and was a permanent feature in all top filmmakers film. He worked with top stars Dilip Kumar (Azaad), Raj Kapoor (Kanhaiya), Dev Anand (Dev Anand in Goa), Ashok Kumar (Howrah Bridge), Shammi Kapoor (Dil Tera Diwana), Rajendra Kumar (Aman), Raaj Kumar (Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai), Sunil Dutt (Khandan), Balraj Sahni (Bhabhi Ki Chudiyan) etc. Memorable roles of Om Prakash In a career spanning 5 decades Om Prakash did over 307 films and few of his roles that became landmark include his role of Head Constable Motilal ( Azaad). In this film his comedy made him a popular comedian and later he did many milestone comedy role like Dus Lakh Pyar Kiye Jaa, Padosan, Chupke Chupke, Namak Halaal, Gol Maal and Chameli Ki Shaadi etc. Besides comedies, Om Prakash was excellent in tragedy. Though Dilip Kumar is known as the king of tragedy but if anybody who has seen Gopi will bet that Om Prakash overpowered Dilip Kumar in tragedy in Gopi. His other remarkable emotional roles are Julie (1975) as Maurice (Julie's Father), Roti (1974) as Lalaji, Zanjeer (1973) as De Silva etc. Om Prakash failed as film producer Om Prakash pumped his resources and produced the film Jahan Ara (1964) but the film was a big flop. Later he directed two films Kanhaiya and Gateway Of India but both failed. Hence he came back to film acting.