Sohrab Modi
| Sohrab Merwanji Modi | |
|---|---|
Sohrab Modi
|
|
| Born | 2 November 1897 |
| Died | 28 January 1984 (aged 86) |
| Notable work | Pukar, Sikandar, Prithvi Vallabh, Jhansi ki Rani, Mirza Ghalib, Jailor, Nausherwan-e-dil |
| Spouse(s) | Mehtab Modi |
Sohrab Modi (1897–1984) was an Indian Parsi stage and film actor, director and producer. His films include Khoon Ka Khoon (1935), a version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Sikandar, Pukar, Prithvi Vallabh, Jhansi ki Rani, Mirza Ghalib, Jailor and Nausherwan-E-Adil (1957). His films always carried a message of strong commitment to social and national issues.
Sohrab Merwanji Modi was born 2 November 1897 in Bombay. After finishing school, he became travelling exhibitor in Gwalior with his brother Keki Modi. At 16 he used project films in Gwalior's Town Hall and at 26 set up his Arya Subhodh Theatrical Company. Sohrab began as a Parsi theatre actor with some experience in silent films. He earned quite a reputation as a Shakespearean actor, travelling throughout India with his brother's theatrical company and enjoying the tremendous sense of fulfillment every time the curtain came down and the audience applauded. However, with the advent of the sound film in 1931, theatre was declining. To rescue this dying art, Modi set up the Stage Film Company in 1935. His first two films were filmed versions of plays. Khoon Ka Khoon (1935) was an adaptation of Hamlet and marked Naseem Bano's acting debut. The second, Said-e-Havas (1936) was based on Shakespeare's King John. Both films failed.
Sohrab Modi was married to Mehtab Modi, an actress born into an aristocratic Muslim family from Gujarat, who began her career in his movie Parakh. They married on her birthday on 28 April 1946.
He launched Minerva Movietone in 1936. His early films at Minerva dealt with contemporary social issues such as alcoholism in Meetha Zaher (1938) and the right of Hindu women to divorce in Talaq (1938). Though the films did well, what attracted Modi was the historic genre. Minerva Movietone became famous for its trilogy of historical spectaculars that were to follow - Pukar (1939), Sikander (1941) and Prithvi Vallabh (1943), wherein Modi made the most of his gift for grandiloquence to evoke historical grandeur.
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