Bharat Bhushan
Bharat Bhushan | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Bharat Bhushan | |
| Born | Bharatbhushan Gupta 14 June 1920 |
| Died | 27 January 1992 (aged 71) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1941–1992 |
| Children | Anuradha Bhushan Aparajita Bhushan |
| Awards | Filmfare Best Actor Award (1955) |
Bharatbhushan Gupta, better known as Bharat Bhushan (14 June 1920 – 27 January 1992) was an Indian actor in Hindi language films, scriptwriter and producer.[1] He was born in Meerut, and brought up in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.
Career
[edit]1941–1962: Early career, rise to prominence and stardom
[edit]Bharat Bhushan began his career in 1941 with a small role in Kidar Sharma's superhit film Chitralekha.[2] 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.[3]
In 1952, he appeared and played the lead in Vijay Bhatt's musical romantic drama film Baiju Bawra. The film emerged a huge blockbuster at the box office and made Bhushan a bankable star.[4] Its music by Naushad and songs by Mohammed Rafi, 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.[5] 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 and Anjali Devi.[6]
Personal life
[edit]Bharat Bhushan was born as Bharat Raibahadur Motilal Gupta on 14 June 1920 in a Vaishya (Baniya) family at Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India.
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 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,[7] who owned the Ideal Studio at Lucknow. After studies, he took to acting against his father's wishes. He first went to Calcutta to join cinema and later established himself in Bombay.
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. 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, who in turn sold it to Rajesh Khanna.[8] 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.[7] He died after he escaped his financial crisis, on 27 January 1992.[9]
Filmography
[edit]Accolades
[edit]| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Filmfare Awards | Best Actor | Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu | Won |
| 1956 | Mirza Ghalib | Nominated |
References
[edit]- ^ Gangadhar, V. (17 August 2007). "They now save for the rainy day". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
- ^ Gulzar, p. 533
- ^ "Top Earners 1948". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ "Top Actors". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 19 February 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ Ganesh Anantharaman (January 2008). "Part I-First Generation Composers-The Pioneers-Naushad Ali". Bollywood Melodies: A History of the Hindi Film Song. Penguin Books India. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-14-306340-7.
- ^ "Box Office 1953". Boxofficeindia.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
- ^ a b "Veteran Bollywood Actor Bharat Bhushan Rich to Poor Story | जब टॉप के हीरो को बेचने पड़े बंगले, लग्जरी कारों में चलने वाला बस स्टैंड पर दिखने लगा, फिर एक वक्त की रोटी के लिए जूनियर आर्टिस्ट का काम करने को मजबूर हुआ...ये सब भाई के कारण हुआ - Dainik Bhaskar". Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
- ^ "Rajesh Khanna's Aashirwad Bunglow" (video). youtube.com (in Hindi).
- ^ Sabharwal, Gopa (2007). India Since 1947: The Independent Years. India: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0143102748. Archived from the original on 12 April 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
Sources
[edit]- Gulzar; Govind Nihalani; Saibal Chatterjee (2003). Encyclopaedia of Hindi cinema. Popular Prakashan. p. 533. ISBN 8179910660.
