Balraj Sahni

Balraj Sahni
Balraj Sahni in Garam Hawa (1973)
Born	Yudhishthir Sahni (1913-05-01)1 May 1913 Rawalpindi, Punjab, British India
Died	13 April 1973(1973-04-13) (aged 59) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Actor, writer
Years active	1946–73 (his death)
Spouse(s)	Damayanti Sahni (?–1947; her death) Santosh Chandhok (1949–?)
Children	Parikshit Sahni (son) Shabnam Sahni (daughter; deceased) Sanovar Sahni (daughter)

Balraj Sahni (1 May 1913 – 13 April 1973), born Yudhishthir Sahni, was a noted Indian film and stage actor, who is best known for Dharti Ke Lal (1946), Do Bigha Zameen (1953), Kabuliwala (1961) and Garam Hawa (1973).

He came from Bhera, now in Punjab, Pakistan, and was the brother of Bhisham Sahni, noted Hindi writer, playwright, and actor.

Sahni was born on 1 May 1913 in Rawalpindi, British India. He studied at Lahore University, Punjab, British India. After completing his master's degree in English Literature from Lahore, he went back to Rawalpindi and joined his family business. He also held a Bachelor's degree in Hindi, followed by a Masters in English from Punjab University. Soon after he married Damayanti Sahni.

In the late 1930s, Sahni and his wife left Rawalpindi to join Tagore's Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan in Bengal as an English and Hindi teacher. It is here that their son, Parikshit Sahni was born, when his wife Damayanti was doing her bachelor's degree. He also went to work with Mahatma Gandhi for a year in 1938. The next year, Sahni, with Gandhi's blessings, went to England to join the BBC-London's Hindi service as a radio announcer. He returned to India in 1943.

Sahni was always interested in acting, and started his acting career with the plays of the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA). Incidentally his wife Damayanti became well-known as an IPTA actress much before Sahni made a name for himself in films. He started his film career in Mumbai with the film Insaaf (1946), followed by Dharti Ke Lal directed by KA Abbas in 1946 (Damayanti's first film), Door Chalein in 1946, and other films. But it was in 1953, with Bimal Roy's classic Do Bigha Zameen, that his true forte as an actor was first recognised. The film won the international prize at the Cannes Film Festival.