Ulhas (born M. N. Kaul; 1913 – 14 July 1969) was an Indian actor, who played

character role A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting characters in supporting roles, rather than leading ones.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014 ...

s in

Hindi cinema 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 ...

from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. However, since he died in 1969, many of his films were released after his death.

Personal life

Ulhas was born as M N Kaul at

Ajmer Ajmer () is a city in the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Ajmer district and Ajmer division. It lies at the centre of Rajasthan, earning it the ...

in a Kashmiri Pandit family in the year 1913 to Chand Bahadur Kaul, who in turn was the brother of Kamla Nehru. This makes Ulhas, the first cousin of

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

who was the third

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

. He was also distantly related to actor

Prem Adib Prem Adib (10 August 1917 – 25 December 1959) was an Indian actor. He was acclaimed as one of the top Bollywood actors of the 1940s, along with the likes of Pahari Sanyal, Ashok Kumar, P. C. Barua and Master Vinayak. Adib is best remembered ...

. After completing his formal education, Ulhas left for

Poona Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

with the help of Prem Adib to try his luck in the Hindi film industry.

Career

Ulhas came to

in search of work in 1935. After the initial struggle, he soon got his first film titled ''Wahan'', with the help of fellow actor Chandra Mohan, who also happened to be another Kashmiri Pandit. ''Wahan'' was being made under the banner of

Prabhat Film Company Prabhat Film Company (popularly known as Prabhat Films) was an Indian film production company and studio facility founded in 1929 in Kolhapur. It was established by filmmaker V. Shantaram, along with Vishnupant Govind Damle, Keshav Rao Dhaibar, ...

headed by V. Shantaram and directed by K Narayan Kale. Ulhas came into prominence with '' Basant'' (1942) in which he was cast opposite

Mumtaz Shanti Mumtaz Shanti (28 May 1926 – 19 October 1994) was an actress in Partition of India, pre-partition Cinema of India, Indian cinema. Working in Bollywood films of the 1940s and also the early 1950s, she moved to Pakistan after the partition of I ...

. Coincidentally, another Mumtaz was signed in the film who played the role of Ulhas's daughter. This Mumtaz went on to become legendary actress

Madhubala Madhubala (born Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi; 14 February 1933 – 23 February 1969) was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films. She is considered as one of the greatest and finest actresses in the history of Indian cinema. One of the country ...

. Even after being cast as the leading hero, Ulhas continued playing supporting roles. Some of his prominent films are '' Parbat Pe Apna Dera, Do Bhai, Jhansi Ki Rani, Laila Majnu, Amar, Nastik,

Mirza Ghalib Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan (27 December 179715 February 1869), commonly known as Mirza Ghalib, was an Indian poet. Widely regarded as one of the greatest poets in the Urdu language, he also produced a significant body of work in Persian. Ghali ...

'' and ''

Kundan Kundan, meaning pure gold, is a traditional form of Indian gemstone jewellery involving a gem set with a gold foil between the stones and its mount, usually for elaborate necklaces and other jewellery. History Origins of Kundan jewelleries in ...

''. For his performance in ''Kundan'', he was also nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category at the

3rd Filmfare Awards The 3rd Filmfare Awards were held in 1956. '' Azaad'' led the ceremony with 4 nominations, followed by ''Biraj Bahu'' and ''Jagriti'' with 3 nominations. ''Biraj Bahu'' and ''Jagriti'' won 2 awards each, with the former winning Best Director ...

. A regular feature in V. Shantaram's films, he appeared in '' Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani,

Dahej Dahej is a cargo port situated on the South-west coast of Gujarat, India in Bharuch district. There is 17.5 million tonnes per year capacity LNG terminal operated by Petronet in Dahej. Port Information General The Port of Dahej is located in ...

Surang ''Surang'' () is a 1953 film directed by V. Shantaram for his Rajkamal Kalamandir banner. The story and dialogue were by Vinod Kumar with music by Shivram Krishna and lyrics by Shewan Rizwi. The actor Chandrashekhar came into prominence with hi ...

Do Aankhen Barah Haath ''Do Aankhen Barah Haath'' () is a 1957 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by V. Shantaram, who also starred. It is considered to be one of the classics of Hindi cinema and is based on humanistic psychology. It won a Silver Bear at the 8 ...

Navrang Navrang is a 1959 Indian Hindi-language film co-written and directed by V. Shantaram. The film is noted for its dance sequences with lead actress Sandhya and music by C. Ramchandra, while playback singer Mahendra Kapoor made his singing debut ...

'' and '' Sehra''. His filmography also has films like ''

Guide A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom. Travel and recreation Exp ...

Sunghursh ''Sunghursh'' ("Struggle") is a 1968 Indian Hindi film directed and produced by Harnam Singh Rawail. It is based on ''Layli Asmaner Ayna'' ("Layli Does Not Go To Heaven"), a short story in Bengali language by Jnanpith Award-winning writer Mah ...

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

Prem Pujari ''Prem Pujari'' () is a 1970 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film produced, directed and written by Dev Anand for Navketan Films, his directorial debut. It stars Anand, Waheeda Rehman, Shatrughan Sinha, Prem Chopra, Madan Puri and a th ...

'' and ''

Heer Ranjha '' Ranjha'' () is a classical Punjabi folk tragedy with many historic poetic narrations; with the first one penned by Damodar Gulati in 1600s, on the preexisting oral legend; and the most famous one, ''Heer'', written by Waris Shah in 17 ...

.''

Death

Ulhas died in 1969 when many of his films were pending for their release. The film ''

'' refers to him as "Late Ulhas" in its credits. Ulhas's final film was '' Sawaal'' which released almost 13 years after his untimely death.

Accolades

For his work in ''

'', Ulhas was nominated for

Filmfare Award The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Time ...

for Best Supporting Actor; it was the only nomination he ever received.

Selected filmography

Ulhas appeared in more than a hundred films, some of which are listed below

References

External links

*
3rd Filmfare awards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulhas Indian male film actors 1913 births 1969 deaths Male actors from Mumbai Actors in Hindi cinema Kashmiri male actors Male actors from Rajasthan People from Ajmer Nehru–Gandhi family