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 ''Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi'' () is a 1 January 1958 Indian musical comedy film directed by Satyen Bose. Starring Madhubala with the Ganguly brothers —Ashok Kumar, Anoop Kumar, and Kishore Kumar— the film revolves around a middle-aged man wh ...

'', ''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 Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...

, 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, Ko ...

. 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 Ki ...

. 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 , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

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 Southea ...

. 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 second- ...

where he worked as an assistant to the famous director

Kidar Sharma Kidar Nath Sharma, also Kedar Sharma (12 April 1910 – 29 April 1999), was an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter, and Lyricist of Hindi films. While he had great success as a director of such movies as '' Neel Kamal'' (1947), ''Bawre ...

. 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 direct ...

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 Prithvi Theatre is one of Mumbai's best known theatres. It was built by Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer Kapoor in memory of Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi's father, who had dreamt of having a "home" for his repertory theatre company, Prithvi Th ...

. His acting debut film was ''Dhanyavad''. After that, Bombay Theatre's ''Muqaddar'' was released in 1950. The heroine was

Nalini Jaywant Nalini Jaywant (18 February 1926 – 22 December 2010) was an Indian actress who appeared in Hindi films in the 1940s and 1950s. Background and personal life Jaywant was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1926. She was first cousin of actre ...

. 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'', ''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'' 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 record ...

. An artist of more than 150 films, Sajjan also worked in TV serials. In ''

Vikram Aur Betaal ''Vikram Aur Betaal'' is an Indian television series that aired on DD National in 1985 & re-telecast in 1988 after the hit Series Ramayan. The series contained stories from Indian stories. The concept of the program was based on ''Baital Pac ...

'' he played

Betaal ''Betaal'', Betāl or Betāla is an Indian zombie Horror fiction, horror streaming television series based in a remote village that serves as the battleground between Presidency armies, East India Company Army officer Lt. Col John Lynedoch, his ...

. 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