Asrani: An actor who lived comedy

February 8, 2020June 7, 2020 Abhi

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Asrani: An actor who lived comedy

Comedians are often treated inferior to the lead actors. They are given less or no credits and given less importance. And back in the days, the hero was the only person on whom the success of the movie was solely dependent. But the same is not true for Asrani: An actor who lived comedy.

Asrani :

Asrani was born on 1st January 1941 in Sindh before Partition to a Sindhi-Hindu family. After partition, his family came to Jaipur, India. There his father started selling Carpets in a shop. He was not good at studies so his father asked him to assist him in his business. But he was not interested in business too.

Although he had a passion for dubbing and voicing. Thus, he worked briefly for ALL INDIA RADIO. This also helped him pay his fees and complete his graduation from Rajasthan College.

Asrani’s Rise to Fame-

Meanwhile working in AIR, Asrani developed an interest in acting. Initially, Sahitya Kalbhai Thakkar helped him learn the art but for better understanding and opportunity, he decided to go to Mumbai (then Bombay).

He was fortunate enough and got to meet Hrishikesh Mukherjee in 1963 accidentally. Hrishikesh Mukherjee advised him to polish his acting skills and learn it professionally. Thus, he joined FTII in Pune. And soon he debuted in a supporting role in the Movie Hare Kaanch ki Chodiyan released in 1967 with Biswajeet in lead. He kept working hard on his craft and soon he became a famous artist in FTII. Meanwhile, he worked in several Gujrati and Hindi movies as lead or supporting roles but didn’t get much response by the audience.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee came to his aid and offered him a role in his movie Satyakam. He got some appreciation for his role and soon he bagged a role in the movie Mere Apne in 1971, a movie made by GULZAR. Due to these two films, Asrani cemented his place in the Hindi Film Industry as a supporting actor. His dedication to his work made him favorite of several directors like Atma Ram, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar, B R CHOPRA, N. R. Desai, David Dhawan ( in later phase ), etc.

Asrani as a Comedian-

Asrani kept working as comic relief in supporting roles. Soon his popularity reached an immense height. And that can be determined by the fact that he acted in around 100 movies in just 9 years till 1981. Almost all of his roles were pivotal and served much importance to the plot of the movie.

Few of his movies released between this period were– Mere Apne,Bawarchi, Abhimaan, bandish, Chupke Chupke, etc. These movies established him as a pro comedian and one of the best in the comedy genre. And with the release of the movie SHOLAY in 1975, Asrani became a hot favorite in the movie industry for comedy roles. Meanwhile he married actress Manju Bansal and they acted in over a dozen of movies together.

While working with Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Asrani came closer to Rajesh Khanna ( the real Superstar of Indian Cinema ). Soon they became good friends. And thus they ended sharing screen space in around 25 movies together.

The veteran actor was so busy working that he holds the record of working in most films in a single decade with over 100 roles.

But then the movie trend was changing from storylines to action. Also, lead actors now started pursuing comedy too. Thus, the demand for comedians kept deteriorating. This affected the legendary comedian too. He then again became active in Gujrati Cinema and acted as the lead in many Gujrati movies like- Sansar Chakra, Jugal Jodi, Chail Chabilo Gujrati, Piyu Gayo Pardesh, Baap Dhamal Dhikr, etc.

2nd Phase of Asrani’s Career

The movie trend changed again and from the mid-1990s, comedy roles started getting written. Meanwhile, a south Indian Director offered him an important role in the movie TAQDEERWALA in 1995. This movie acted as a career saver for him and his career was revived again.
From there on he worked in several blockbuster movies like Gharwali Baharwali, Jo jeeta wo Sikandar, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Hera Pheri, etc.
He was constantly cast with Govinda, Kader Khan, Anil Kapoor and other actors and the audience accepted him in almost every movie he appeared in.

Facts about Asrani-

Birthday – 1st January 1941, Sindh
Full name – Govardhan Asrani
School – St. Xavier’s School, Jaipur
College – Rajasthan College, Jaipur
He Currently lives in – Mumbai
Family – Manju Bansal Asrani ( Wife) and Naveen Asrani ( Son )
Apart from Rajesh Khanna, he is very close to Jaya Bachchan and knows her from their acting school – FTII Pune.

Conclusion–

Asrani has given more than 5 decades to the Hindi film industry. He is perhaps one of the best comedians in Bollywood. His proficiency can be proved by the fact that he has been nominated record 13 times for the best supporting role in comedy in the Filmfare Awards. In which he won twice. The actor of his caliber is rarely seen. He has not only worked in commercial movies but also in many offbeat classic movies too. There was a reason he was several director’s favorite. And HPV thanks him to entertain the Indian audience for such a long duration and hope for his good health and well being.

Asrani was last seen in the movie Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir se along side legendry actor Dharmendra. His next release is the movie Chalta Hai Yaar. It is always a treat to watch him acting and hope to see him soon on the silver screen.

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