Many actors like Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Sushant Singh Rajput among others left their college mid-way for acting and became superstars. Another such actor, who quit his studies for films, became a superstar in Bhojpuri cinema. 

The actor we are talking about used to play side characters in Bollywood generally, however, became a superstar in Bhojpuri cinema. He gave several hits to Rajesh Khanna and worked with other Bollywood stars like Dharmendra, Jeetendra, and others. He is none other than Sujit Kumar. 

Sujit Kumar was studying law when he took part in one of his college plays and made his debut alongside Dev Anand in the 1954 film Taxi Driver. The panel of judges for this play also included the famous producer-director Phani Majumdar, who liked his acting very much and advised him to become an actor. And with this, he left his studies and decided to pursue acting. 

He made his Bollywood debut with Dev Anand’s Taxi Driver and then went on to star in several movies. The actor appeared in either supporting roles or as a villain in Bollywood films. He worked alongside every superstar from Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Shashi Kapoor and more. In fact, the actor’s onscreen pair with Rajesh Khanna was a super hit and he gave 12 hits with the superstar including Aradhana, Ittefaq, Haathi Mere Saathi, Aan Milo Sajna, and more. 

The actor, however, was the first superstar of Bhojpuri cinema and worked as lead in more than 20 films like Bidesiya, Ganga Maiyya Tohe Piyari Chadhaibo, Dangal, Bhaiya Dooj and Paan Khaye Saiyaan Hamaar among others. In his career spanning over 30 years, the actor worked in over 150 films and later quit acting to become a producer. He produced films like Anubhav, Aasmaan se Ooncha, Khel, Daraar,  Champion, Aetbaar, and Ganga Kahe Pukar Ke. 

Sujit Kumar had been suffering from cancer since 2007 and lost the fight to the disease in 2010. His wife, Kiran Singh died just two years before his death, in 2005 and the couple had two children, a son Jatin Kumar, a film producer, and a daughter Henna Singh. A condolence meet took place at the Indian Medical Association, beside PVR Cinema, Juhu, Mumbai where many of his friends from the industry, like members of the Kapoor family, Rakesh Roshan’s family, and Rajesh Khanna’s family paid their last respects.

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