Motilal | |
---|---|
Born |
Motilal Rajvansh 4 December 1910 Shimla, India |
Died | 17 June 1965 Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
(aged 54)
Years active | 1934–1965 |
Awards | Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award: Devdas(1955) ; Parakh (1960) |
Motilal Rajvansh (1910–1965) was an Indian film actor and the winner of Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for Devdas (1955) and Parakh (1960). He is credited with being among Hindi cinema’s first natural actors.
He also directed a film Chhoti Chhoti Baatein (1965) but died before its release. At the 13th National Film Awards, it won the award for Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature Film and he posthumously won Certificate of Merit for the Best Story Writer.
Born in Shimla on 4 December 1910, Motilal came from a distinguished family from Delhi. His father was a renowned educationist, who died when Motilal was one year old. He was brought up by his uncle who was a well-known civil surgeon in Uttar Pradesh. At first, Moti was sent to an English school at Shimla and later, in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Thereafter he shifted to Delhi where he continued with school and college.
Motilal Rajvansh said of his screen career with characteristic humour:
After leaving college, Moti came to Bombay to join the Navy, but he fell ill and could not appear for the test. Fate had other choices charted out for him. One day, he went to see a film shoot at Sagar Studios, where director K. P. Ghosh was shooting. Motilal, even then, was quite the man about the town and he caught Ghosh’s eye. In 1934 (aged 24), he was offered the hero's role in Shaher Ka Jadoo (1934) by the Sagar Film Company. He later featured in several successful social dramas alongside Sabita Devi, including Dr. Madhurika (1935) and Kulvadhu (1937). He worked with Mehboob Khan in Jagirdar (1937) and Hum Tum Aur Woh (1938) under the Sagar Movietone banner, in Taqdeer (1943) for Mehboob Productions, and Kidar Sharma's Armaan (1942) and Kaliyan (1944). He also acted in S. S. Vasan's film "Paigham" (1959) (Gemini Studios), and Raj Kapoor's "Jagte Raho" (1956).