Prem Adib (10 August 1917 – 25 December 1959) was an Indian actor. He was acclaimed as one of the top

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

actors of the 1940s, along with the likes of

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, P. C. Barua and Master Vinayak. Adib is best remembered for his roles as Lord

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' ...

in ''

Bharat Milap ''Bharat Milap'' is a Bollywood film based on Ramayana. It was released in Bollywood films of 1942, 1942. It is Ramayana from Bharata's point of view and is about the brotherhood of Lord Rama and Bharata. Remakes It was remade into two movies i ...

'' (1942) and '' Ram Rajya'' (1943). These films had him paired with

Shobhana Samarth Shobhana Samarth (née Saroj Shilotri; 17 November 1916 – 9 February 2000) was an Indian director, actress and producer, who began her career in the early days of talkie movies in the Bollywood, Hindi film industry and continued in lead roles ...

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, and the duo came to be celebrated as an embodiment of chaste love and "traditional Indian values". Adib and Samarth continued as the holy Rama-Sita pair in another

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

-based film, '' Rambaan'' (1948). From 1943 to 1950, the Adib-Samarth screen pair became popular enough to be featured on covers of religious publications and on thousands of calendars, which would be placed in Hindu temples as objects of worship. '' Ram Rajya'' (1943) also has the distinction of being the only film ever viewed by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

Early life

Prem Narayan Adib was born into a

Kashmiri Pandit The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, located within the In ...

family of

Oudh The Kingdom of Awadh (, , also Oudh State, Kingdom of Oudh, Awadh Subah, or Awadh State) was a Mughal subah, then an independent kingdom, and lastly a British protectorate in the Awadh region of North India until its annexation by the Br ...

in 1917. His father Pandit Ram Prasad Adib was a lawyer by profession. The family name ''Adīb'' is a courtly

Perso-Arabic The Persian alphabet (), also known as the Perso-Arabic script, is the right-to-left script, right-to-left alphabet used for the Persian language. It is a variation of the Arabic script with four additional letters: (the sounds 'g', 'zh', ' ...

reference to "learned, scholarly and culturally refined" persons. It had been bestowed on the family as an

honorific An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an Honorary title (academic), h ...

in the 19th century by

Wajid Ali Shah Mirza Wajid Ali Shah () (30 July 1822 – 1 September 1887) was the eleventh and last King of Awadh, holding the position for 9 years, from 13 February 1847 to 11 February 1856. Wajid Ali Shah's first wife was Alam Ara who was better known a ...

, the last

Nawab of Awadh The Nawab of Awadh or Nawab of Oudh was the title of the rulers of Kingdom of Awadh (anglicised as Oudh) in northern India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Nawabs of Awadh belonged to an Iranian dynasty''Encyclopædia Iranica'', R. B. B ...

. Prem Adib married Krishna Kumari Kaul (alias Pratima), a sister of Sheila Kaul. He died aged 42 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 ...

on Christmas Day, 1959. He is survived by a daughter Damini Sohoni and a grandson Ankush Sohoni.

Lawsuit

Adib was involved in a controversy when a minor actress, acting through her father, filed a case against him for breach of contract related to work. The case became known in legal literature as ''Raj Rani versus Prem Adib''. Prem Adib, the defendant, won, as the case was void due to the girl's minority, and also because of which she could not contract her father to sign on her behalf.

Filmography

* '' Angulimaal'' (1960) * '' Bhakt Raj'' (1959) * ''Samarat Prithviraj Chauvan'' (1957) * '' Neelmani'' (1957) * ''Chandi Pooja'' (1955) * ''Ganga Maiyya'' (1955) * ''Bhagwat Mahima'' (1954) * ''Maha Puja'' (1952) * ''Mordhwaj'' (1951) * ''Lav Kush'' (1949) * ''Bholi'' (1949) * ''Maa Ka Pyaar'' (1948) * '' Anokhi Ada'' (1948) * '' Rambaan'' (1948) * ''Veerangana'' (1946) * ''Subhadra'' (1945) * ''Chand'' (1944) * ''Amrapali'' (1944) * ''Police'' (1943) * '' Ram Rajya'' (1942) * ''

'' (1942) * '' Chudiyan'' (1942) * ''Station Master'' (1938) * ''Nirala Hindustan'' (1938) * ''

Talaq Divorce according to Islamic law can occur in a variety of forms, some initiated by a husband and some by a wife. The main categories of Islamic customary law are ''talaq'' ( repudiation), ''khulʿ'' (mutual divorce) and ''faskh'' (dissolution o ...

'' (1938)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adib, Prem 1917 births 1959 deaths Indian male film actors Male actors in Hindi cinema Kashmiri male actors Kashmiri Pandits