Mazhar Khan (actor, born 1905)

Mazhar Khan
Mazhar Khan in and as Professor Waman Msc. (1938)
Born	Mazhar Khan 1905 Bareilly British India
Died	1950 (aged 44–45) Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Actor, producer, director
Years active	1926–1950

Mazhar Khan (1905–1950) was an actor-producer-director in Indian Cinema. He was acknowledged for his "intense but natural performances", which was best exemplified by Mazhar, a Muslim, acting the role an upper-caste Hindu in V. Shantaram's "classic" film Padosi (1941). He started his career as a police officer, which he left to study law for a short period. Abandoning his studies he came to Bombay and started his career in cinema with the silent film Fatal Garland opposite the top actress of the time, Ermeline. He became a popular actor, with "success following success" in several silent films. During his stint in silent films he worked with well-established directors like Bhagwati Mishra, Ezra Mir, Moti P. Bhagnani, R. S. Chowdhary, and M. D. Bhavnani. The magazines of those days, "as late as 1942" compared Mazhar to Hollywood actors like Paul Muni, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.

Mazhar Khan made a successful transition to Talkies with the end of the Silent Era. Nurjehan (1931), directed by Ezra Mir, was his first Talkie picture. It received a positive response from the audiences establishing Mazhar as a profitable and dependable actor. He went on to work with the East India Film Company in Calcutta and Sagar Movietone, making films like Sultana, Night Bird, Salima and Sonhera Sansar. He then moved back to Bombay and worked under Ranjit Movietone. Having established himself in the different roles he portrayed, he became renowned for "his brilliant characterisations". He was recognised as a "a celebrity of the first ranking and the most discussed man in films". He formed his own production company, Asiatic Pictures under the banner of which he first made Yaad (1942) and then Pehli Nazar (1945), which is written as his "best directorial triumph". He introduced actress Veena in Yaad and Munawwar Sultana as a lead heroine in Pehli Nazar. His last role was in Usha Kiran.