Bharatbhushan Gupta, better known as Bharat Bhushan (14 June 1920 – 27 January 1992) was an Indian actor in
Hindi language films,
scriptwriter and
producer.
He was born in
Meerut
Meerut (, ISO 15919, ISO: ''Mēraṭh'') is a city in the western region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located in the Meerut district, it is northeast of the national capital, New Delhi, and is ...
, and brought up in
Aligarh
Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capital, New Delhi. ...
,
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
.
Career
1941–1962: Early career, rise to prominence and stardom
Bharat Bhushan began his career in 1941 with a small role in
Kidar Sharma's superhit film ''
Chitralekha''. Despite this, his career didn't took off as his films apart from another Kidar Sharma's directional ''
Suhaag Raat'' (1948) did not perform well commercially.
In 1952, he appeared and played the lead in
Vijay Bhatt's
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
romantic drama film
Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...
''
Baiju Bawra''. The film emerged a huge blockbuster at the box office and made Bhushan a bankable star.
Its music by
Naushad
Naushad Ali (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006) was an Indian composer for Hindi films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is particularly known for popularising the use of ...
and songs by
Mohammed Rafi
Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and range of voice ...
, such as "Tu Ganga Ki Mauj Mein Jamana Ka Dhara", "O Duniya Ke Rakhwale Sunn Dard Bhare Mere Naaley" and "Man Tarpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj" were also very successful and won Naushad the inaugural
Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.
The same year with two more successes, ''
Maa'' and ''
Anand Math'', Bhushan further solidified his stardom. In 1953, he delivered another blockbuster and second highest earner of the year with ''
Ladki'', co-starring
Vyjayanthimala,
Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar (born Abhas Kumar Ganguly; ; 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer, musician and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of modern India ...
and
Anjali Devi.
Personal life
Bharat Bhushan was born as Bharat Raibahadur Motilal Gupta on 14 June 1920 in a
Vaishya (''Baniya'') family at
Meerut
Meerut (, ISO 15919, ISO: ''Mēraṭh'') is a city in the western region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located in the Meerut district, it is northeast of the national capital, New Delhi, and is ...
,
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
His father, Raibahadur Motilal, was the government pleader of Meerut and Supreme Court Judge, Allahabad. He had one older brother. His mother died when he was two years old. The brothers left for
Aligarh
Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capital, New Delhi. ...
to stay with their grandfather after their mother's death. He did his studies and earned a graduate degree from Dharam Samaj College, Aligarh. His elder brother was film producer and high court judge, Rameshchandra Gupta,
who owned the Ideal Studio at
Lucknow
Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...
. After studies, he took to acting against his father's wishes. He first went to
Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
to join cinema and later established himself in
Bombay
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
.
He married into a prominent family in Meerut, Zamindar Raibahadur Budha Prakash's daughter Sarla. They had two daughters, Anuradha (who had polio-associated complications) and Aparajita. Bhushan's wife Sarla died of labour complications after delivering their second child in the early 1960s, soon after the release of film ''
Barsaat Ki Raat''. In 1967, he married actress Ratna, his co-star from ''
Barsaat Ki Raat''. Ratna was a prominent actress who played the sister or friend of the heroine in many films. Among her notable TV appearances was the serial ''
Trishna'' as mother of the four young girls. It was an adaptation of ''
Pride and Prejudice
''Pride and Prejudice'' is the second published novel (but third to be written) by English author Jane Austen, written when she was age 20-21, and later published in 1813.
A novel of manners, it follows the character development of Elizabe ...
''. In an interview, his daughter Aparajita had said that after the sudden demise of her husband, she turned to acting. Aparajita has done more than 50 films and TV serials. She played the role of
Mandodari in
Ramanand Sagar's famous serial
''Ramayan''.
Bhushan owned a bungalow in Bandra suburb of Bombay. This was the famous Aashirwad bungalow, which he sold to
Rajendra Kumar
Rajendra Kumar (born as Rajendra Kumar Tuli; 20 July 1927 – 12 July 1999), was an Indian actor who starred in Bollywood films. Starting his career in 1949, he appeared in more than 80 films in a career spanning over four decades. Kumar was on ...
, who in turn sold it to
Rajesh Khanna
Rajesh Khanna (; born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who worked in Hindi films. Considered as one of the greatest and most successful actors in the history of Indian cinema, h ...
.
This bungalow, was thus home to 3 famous film stars. Bhushan was an avid reader and boasted of a fine collection of books, which he had to sell off like his cars and bungalows in bad times, after he turned co-producer at the instance of his brother. Only two of his films were successes and unfortunately, the rest flopped.
He died after he escaped his financial crisis, on 27 January 1992.
Filmography
Accolades
References
Sources
*
External links
*
Bharat Bhushan, the tragic hero
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhushan, Bharat
Male actors from Uttar Pradesh
1920 births
1992 deaths
Rajasthani people
Male actors in Hindi cinema
People from Aligarh
Actors from Meerut
20th-century Indian male actors
Filmfare Awards winners