P. L. Raj
| P. L. Raj | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Devraj Peter Lewis August 10, 1934 Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu |
| Died | July 9, 2002 (aged 67) Mumbai, India |
| Occupation | choreographer |
P. L. Raj (August 10, 1934 – July 9, 2002) born "Devraj Peter Lewis" was a noted Bollywood film choreographer, who was the leading choreographer of 1960 and 70s Hindi cinema. He established face-paced dancing and cabaret-style dance numbers. He most known for his work with Helen, Shammi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan, most notably film like Junglee (1961), Professor (1962), Teesri Manzil (1966), Intaquam (1969), Sholay (1975), and Don (1978). He choreographed over 1,000 films in Hindi as well as regional cinemas including Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and Punjabi.
Raj was born on August 10, 1934 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and grew up in Hyderabad from where he ran away at age 10 and reached Mumbai. His birth name was Devraj Peter Lewis, which he change after he entered the film industry.
He was trained by dancer duo, Surya Kumar and Krishan Kumar who started training actors in Mumbai, after themselves receiving training from Azoorie, a popular dancer of early cinema. Other choreographer to come out of their training were Satyanarayan, Bapriprasad and many others.
Raj began his career in Bollywood in early 50s, a period when slow paced dance sequences were phasing out and fast paced rhythms were entering Hindi film music and along with it western dance moves. Initially he worked as background dancer in films, and went to assisting choreographer Krishna Kumar from whom he had earlier learnt dance, most notably in songs like "Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu in Howrah Bridge (1958) picturized on Helen. However, his first break as an independent choreographer was with Dev Anand and Mala Sinha starrer Love Marriage (1959). Raj also choreographed dances for various films including Junglee (1961) and Professor (1962) with Shammi Kapoor, Shagird (1967, "Bade Miya Diwane" ), Teesri Manzil (1966, "Aaja Aaja Mein Hoon Pyar Tera" and "Deewana Mujhsa Nahin"), Gumnaam (1965), Intaquam (1969), Sholay (1975), Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978, "Salaam-e-Ishq"), Don (1978), Sargam (1979, "Dafliwale Dafli Baja" and "Parbat Ke Us Paar"), Ek Duje Ke Liye (1981) and Saagar (1985, "Jaane Do Naa") and . He was the most successful film choreographer of 1960s and 70s Hindi cinema.
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