In a long and prolific career, Pran appeared in more than 362 films, however, there was one superhit Amitabh Bachchan film from which Pran was replaced. The film was Mard, the 1985 Bollywood movie directed by Manmohan Desai, which went on to be a cult classic.
Anyone who looks forward to being a part of the film industry always craves to become a hero, as they are often considered to be the biggest box office draws. But you rarely see a villain being the top star in an industry. However, today we will tell you about an actor who, four decades back, commanded greater fees than even Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra during their peak. This actor was the only villain to become India’s highest-paid star. We are talking about none other than Pran.
Born in 1920, Pran began his career as a hero in 1940. At the turn of the decade, he started to experiment with negative roles and went on to earn his name as the top villain of Bollywood. From 1969-82, he worked in eight films with Amitabh Bachchan and even though Big B was Bollywood’s top hero at the time, Pran commanded a bigger salary. The only Indian actor, at the time, who earned more than Pran was Rajesh Khanna. Pran was the number one actor in the country till Amitabh Bachchan hiked his fees in the 80s.
In a long and prolific career, Pran appeared in more than 362 films, however, there was one superhit Amitabh Bachchan film from which Pran was replaced. The film was Mard, the 1985 Bollywood movie directed by Manmohan Desai, which went on to be a cult classic. In the film, Dara Singh’s role as Raja Azaad Singh was first written with Pran in mind, however, Manmohan Desai was so impressed with Dara Singh’s physicality that he ultimately replaced Pran with him. This revelation was recently made by Vindu Dara Singh to ETimes.
“Whenever Manmohan Desai planned a film, there were always certain people who were part of his team, Amitabh Bachchan as the hero, Pran as the father, and Nirupa Roy as the mother. When the story of Mard was written by Prayag Raj, Manmohan Desai had titled it Mard, and there was a particular scene in which an aircraft had to be stopped. Manmohan Desai told Prayag Raj, ‘What have you written? Who will believe this?’ He then said, ‘You have not written this for Pran saab, but for Dara Singh.’ So, before meeting my father, Manmohan Desai went to Pran saab and told him that the first scene of the film involved a plane being stopped. Pran saab said, ‘Why have you come to me? Go to Dara Singh.’ Manmohan Desai said, ‘I am going there, but I wanted to tell you this first.’ Pran saab replied, ‘You don’t have to think about anything, just go and make your film’,” Vindu Dara Singh recalled.
Mard went on to become a super hit and one of Amitabh Bachchan’s most memorable films. At the box office, Mard earned over Rs 16 crore.
For the unversed, Pran took retirement from acting after 2000. He passed away in 2013 at the age of 93.
