Agha (21 March 1914 – 30 April 1992) was an Indian actor of
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...
films. He was known for comic roles and modeled himself on Bob Hope's style of acting.
He appeared in over 300 Hindi films in his career between 1935 and 1986.
His son,
Jalal Agha, also became an actor, mostly known for the song ''Mehbooba Mehbooba'' in ''
Sholay
''Sholay'' (, ) is a 1975 Indian Hindi-language action-adventure film directed by Ramesh Sippy, produced by his father G. P. Sippy, and written by Salim–Javed. The film is about two criminals, Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) ...
'' (1975).
Early life
Agha Beg was born on 21 March 1914 at Fatima Nagar, Pune,
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
. His father was originally from Iran and had settled in Pune but had to leave Pune for Bombay in search of employment
Agha confessed that he went to school for just three days, "that was as long as I could stand it". He spent time "mooching" around the
Poona Race Course as he wanted to become a jockey and loved horses. Agha came to Bombay and joined his neighbourhood drama group. His interest in acting took him to films where in 1933 he started as a production manager in Kanwal Movietone.
[
]
Career
Agha's first film was Kanwal Movietone's ''Stree Dharma'', also called ''Painted Sin'' (1935), starring Mehtab and Nazir. However, his films ''Karwan-e-Husn'' (1935), Wadia Movietone's ''Rangila Mazdoor'' (1938) and '' Anuradha'' (1940) helped him gain recognition as a comic actor. He acted in Kikubhai Desai's (Manmohan Desai
Manmohan Desai (26 February 1937 – 1 March 1994) was an Indian film producer and director. He was one of the most successful filmmaker of the 70s and 80s. Desai is now considered one of most influential film director of Bollywood and a pionee ...
's father) ''Circus Ki Sundari'' (1941), which was popular and this helped in getting lead roles in films such as '' Muqabala'' (1942), ''Laheri Cameraman'' (1944) and ''Taxi Driver'' (1944).[
]
Filmography
Selected list.
Death
Agha died on 30 April 1992 of a heart attack in Pune, Maharashtra, India at the age of 78.[ He was survived by three daughters, one son Jalal Agha and Son-in-law actor ]Tinnu Anand
Tinu Anand (born Virender Raj Anand, 12 October 1945) is an Indian actor, director, writer and producer in Hindi cinema and a few Telugu and Tamil films.
Early life
He is the son of veteran writer Inder Raj Anand, brother of producer Bittu An ...
.[Profile of Agha]
Indian Cinema Heritage Foundation website, Retrieved 11 February 2022
Awards
He was nominated for the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for the 1960 film '' Ghunghat'', but did not win the award.[
]
References
External links
*
20th-century Indian male actors
1914 births
1992 deaths
Male actors in Hindi cinema
Indian male comedians
Film producers from Maharashtra
Male actors from Pune
20th-century comedians
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