Sajjan (15 January 1921 – 17 May 2000) was a

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" (fo ...

and stage actor. He acted in several plays and movies from the 1950s to the 1980s. His best known films are ''Bees Saal Baad'', '' Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi'', ''April Fool'', ''Rail Ka Dibba'', ''

Johny Mera Naam ''Johny Mera Naam'' () is a 1970 Indian Hindi-language crime action film directed by Vijay Anand. The film stars the director's brother, Dev Anand and Pran in the roles of brothers separated in childhood. Hema Malini, Jeevan, Premnath, I. S. ...

'' and ''Jhumroo''.

Early life

Born on January 15, 1921, in

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known as ...

, his full name was Sajjan Lal Purohit, but he was known by his first name in the

Indian film industry The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, K ...

. Sajjan graduated from Jaswant college in

Jodhpur Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the ...

. He had a desire to be a lawyer, but not an actor.

Career

In 1941, he arrived in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

and worked as an apprentice in a laboratory of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sout ...

. His initial breakthrough in films was as an extra in films such as '' Masoom'' (1941) and ''Chowringhee'' (1942). Sajjan left Calcutta during te Second World War and reached

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

where he worked as an assistant to the famous director Kidar Sharma. At that time, the great showman Raj Kapoor was also an assistant to Sharma. He also worked as assistant to

Gajanan Jagirdar Gajanan Jagirdar (2 April 1907 – 13 August 1988) was a veteran Indian film director, screenwriter and actor. He worked in Hindi Cinema, also called Bollywood, as well as Marathi cinema. The period of 1942 to 1947, saw his rise as a film dire ...

and Vakil Sahib and received Rs.35 as salary. A poet by heart, Sajjan showed his talent when he wrote dialogues for ''Meena'' (1944) and lyrics for ''Door Chalen'' (1946) and ''Dhanyavad'' (1948). He also acted in small roles in Prithvi Theatre. His acting debut film was ''Dhanyavad''. After that, Bombay Theatre's ''Muqaddar'' was released in 1950. The heroine was Nalini Jaywant. By then Sajjan was well established in films. In the 1950s and 1960s, he acted as hero or side-hero in films such as '' Saiyan'', ''

Rail Ka Dibba ''Rail Ka Dibba'' () is a 1953 romantic drama Indian film directed by Prem Narayan Arora and starring Shammi Kapoor, Madhubala in lead roles. The film was Shammi Kapoor's second release after '' Jeewan Jyoti'' (1953). Plot Sundar (Shammi Kap ...

'', ''Bahana'', ''Sheesha'', ''Malkin'', ''Nirmohi'', ''Kasturi'', ''Mehmaan'', ''Lagan'', ''Girl School'', ''Paridhaan'', ''00 Dulhe'', ''Ghar-Ghar Mein Diioali'', ''Haa-Haa-Hee-Hee-Hoo-Hoo'', ''Poonam Jhanjhar'' and ''Halla-Gulla''. As hero, his last films were ''Kabuliwala'' and ''Do Chor'', and as an artist he last appeared in the 1986 release ''

Shatru ''Shatru/Birodh'' is a 1986 Hindi/Bengali-language film starring Rajesh Khanna in the lead in a role playing the role of an inspector in a remote village. The film was an Indo-Bangladeshi venture and the music was written by R.D. Burman. The ...

'' with

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. He is called as the "First Superstar of Hindi cinema", he consecutively starred in a recor ...

. An artist of more than 150 films, Sajjan also worked in TV serials. In '' Vikram Aur Betaal'' he played Betaal. His other serial was ''Lena-Dena''.

Filmography

Television

References

External links

*
Sajjan's interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sajjan 1921 births 2000 deaths Male actors in Hindi cinema Indian male film actors 20th-century Indian male actors