Khalil (1903–1941) was an

Indian cinema The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on p ...

actor of silent and talkie films. He achieved stardom with silent films like ''Gul-E-Bakavali'' (1924), ''

Kulin Kanta ''Kulin Kanta'' is Indian cinema's 1925 crime thriller silent film directed by Homi Master. Based on a true incident, the Bawla murder case, ''Kulin Kanta'' featured the story of the Tukojirao Holkar III, Maharaja Holkar of Indore, and Mumtaz ...

'' (1925), and ''Lanka Ni Laadi'' (1925) which was a major success commercially. His other successes included ''Cinema Queen'' (1925) with Sulochana, ''

Draupadi Draupadi (), also referred to as Krishnā, Panchali and Yajnaseni, is the central heroine of the Indian epic poetry, ancient Indian epic ''Mahabharata''. In the epic, she is the princess of Panchala Kingdom, who later becomes the empress of K ...

'' (1931), and ''Daily Mail'' (1930). Khalil is referred to as the "macho hero". Khalil worked from 1920 to 1941, making a transition to Talkies in 1931 with ''

'' directed by B. P. Mishra, and ''Daulat Ka Nasha'' directed by Pesi Karani. Both films were produced by Kohinoor and Imperial Films. He shifted to

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

from

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 ...

in 1934, and immediately "made his mark" with the

East India Film Company The East India Film Company was an Indian film production company, based in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India. It was the first Indian film company to screen a movie at an international film festival. Started in 1932 in Calcutta, by R. L ...

production ''Quismat Ki Kasauti'' (1934), directed by Pesi Karani. He also wrote lyrics for films like ''Dard-e-Dil'' (1934).

Career

Silent films

Khalil's first film was ''Krishna Sudama'' (1920), a silent film co-produced by Kohinoor Film Company and Imperial Film Company. He joined the Kohinoor Film Company in 1925, along with other known actors of that time like

Raja Sandow Raja Sandow (born P. K. Nagalingam) was an Indian actor, film director and producer. He began his career as an actor in silent films and later became a prominent actor and director in Tamil and Hindi films of the 1930s. He is considered to be o ...

Zubeida Zubeida Begum Dhanrajgir (1911 – 21 September 1988) was an Indian actress. Early in her career, she starred in a number of silent films, which were followed by a breakthrough in the first Indian talkie ''Alam Ara'' (1931). Her other notable ...

and Tara. Some of his notable silent films were ''Sati Parvati'' (1920), ''Mahasati Ansuya'' (1921), ''Rukmani Haran'' (1921), ''Malti Madhav'' (1922), ''Surya Kumari'' (1922) and ''Manorama'' (1924). In 1924, he acted as a "lecherous Maharaja" in ''

''. The film was based on a true incident cited as the Bawla murder case, and depicted the story of the Maharaja Tukoji Rao Holkar III of

Indore Indore (; ISO 15919, ISO: , ) is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The commercial capital of the state, it has been declared as the List of cleanest cities in India, cleanest city of In ...

and a dancing girl who wanted to escape from the harem. In 1925, Khalil acted as a shepherd in love with a princess he saves, in Kohinoor Film Company's fantasy production called ''Lanka Ni Laadi'', also known as ''Fairy Of Ceylon''. The film was directed by

Homi Master Homi Master (?–1949) was an actor-director of early Indian cinema. His work extended from the silent era to the talkie era and up to his death. He produced his best films for Kohinoor Film Company and he has been referred to as "silent cinema ...

with story by Mohanlal G. Dave. It co-starred Gohar and Jamna. The film became Gohar's first "major" hit and "grossed more than any other film in 1925".

Talkies

Khalil joined Indian Talkies 1931, and worked in the two films produced by them, ''

'' and ''Daulat Ka Nasha''. ''Draupadi'', also called ''The Daughter Of King Drupad'', was the story of

from the epic

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

. It was produced by the Imperial Film Company and directed by Bhagwati Prasad Mishra. Khalil played Lord Krishna with actress Ermiline playing Draupadi. ''Daulat Ka Nasha'' was directed by Pesi Karani. He continued to make his mark with films like ''Bharat Mata'' (1932), directed by Pesi Karani, ''Niti Vijay'' (1932), directed by Moti Gidwani, ''Do Rangi Duniya'', directed by Pesi Karani and ''Saubhagya Sundari'', directed by

. All films were produced by Imperial Film Company. In 1934, Khalil acted in ''Mazdoor'', also known as ''The Mill'', which was directed by Mohan Dayaram Bhavnani for Ajanta Cinetone. Written by

Munshi Premchand Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known as Munshi Premchand based on his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu s ...

, it was one of the first talkies to be banned by British censors in India. Khalil shifted from

, where he achieved success working again with Karani in East India Films' ''Kismet Ki Kasauti'' (1934). With Madan Theatres Ltd. he worked in ''Miss Manorama'' (1935) and ''Bulbul-e-Iran'' (1936), directed by

Faredoon Irani Faredoon A. Irani was an Indian cinematographer who worked in Hindi films. He shot Mehboob Khan's films (1949), '' Aan'' (1952) and ''Mother India '' (1958). During his career, he won the Filmfare Award for Best Cinematographer record two tim ...

, and in ''Miss Parivartan'', directed by

Ezra Mir Ezra Mir (26 October 1903 – 7 March 1993) was an Indian film-maker, known for his documentary films. Mir changed his Jewish birth name, Edwyn Meyers, to Ezra Mir on the advice of Edwine Carewe who was the producer at Dolores Del Rio unit of U ...

. In 1937, Khalil acted in ''Whose Darling?'', also called ''Kiski Pyari?''. He played the second lead to Jal Merchant and Zubeida. The film was written and directed by Akhtar Nawaz. The advertisement in filmindia called it a "Heart-throbbing Rajput story of love, romance and chivalry". The film was produced by Sunrise Film Co. from The Tollywood Studios.

Personal life and death

A Muslim by birth, he performed varied roles in films. His initial acting phase had him playing

Hindu Gods Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. Deities in Hinduism are as diverse as its traditions, and a Hindu can choose to be polytheistic, pantheistic, monotheistic, monistic, even agnostic, atheistic, or humanist.Julius J. Lipne ...

in mythology films. He portrayed

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

and

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

several times. Disenchanted by the communalism arising in the film industry, he made a speech against it at the Indian Motion Pictures Congress on 4 May 1939. A section was quoted in his obituary in the cine-mag ''

Filmindia ''filmindia'' is an Indian monthly magazine covering Indian cinema and published in English language. Started by Baburao Patel in 1935, ''filmindia'' was the first English film periodical to be published from Bombay. The magazine was reportedly ...

'' in 1941: Khalil died on 28 October 1941, in Calcutta, after a short illness. He was thirty-seven years old and left behind "a widow" and "five children".

Filmography

Lists:

Silent films

Talkies

A partial list:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khalil 1903 births 1941 deaths Male actors in Hindi cinema Indian male silent film actors 20th-century Indian male actors