Article published by CNN IBN
Sangam city, Allahabad is famous all over the world, it is more famous for its historical monuments and holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna & Saraswati i.e. SANGAM. The city is developing and achieving merits in the fields of education, art, culture and politics, the city is also getting very good success in sports, recent common wealth games ‘CWG’ and ASIAD proved this. But here the subject is ‘THE INDIAN FILM INDUSTRY AND ALLAHABAD’, so let us discuss ‘Bollywood and Allahabad’………
If we go into the past and have a look of the pre Amitabh Bachchan’s era, we will find many more personalities from this city who very well contributed in the film industry with their amazing talents.
JADDAN BAI was born in 1892 in Allahabad, she was a very famous film director and a melodious singer and she was the director of many hit movies like MADAM FASHION, HRIDAYA MANTHAN, JEEVAN SAPNA, MOTI KA HAAR etc.
Another legendry person NARGIS (Fatima-e-Rasheed) from Allahabad created the history of success in the film industry with her marvelous acting talent in the movies like MOTHER INDIA, AAWARA, RAAT AUR DIN, BARSAAT, SHRI 20, ANDAZ,ANHONI, JOGAN,DEEDAR, CHORI CHORI, YE RAAT BHEEGI BHEEGI, BABUL and many more. Nargis was born on 1st June, 1929, in Allahabad, her mother was Jaddan Bai, in fact her whole family was in association with the film industry. Nargis got many awards and applauses; she was the biggest star of her time.
Another famous actor of Bollywood, ANWAR HUSSAIN was born in 1928 and was brought up in Allahabad in the same family, he was the elder brother of Nargis. He started his acting career as a character artiste and created history through his films like JAIL YATRA, ROCKY, YARANA,GURU HO JA SHURU,HEERA MOTI,JANI DUSHMAN,APNA QHOON,VICTORIA NUMBER 203,HEERA,LOAFER,ANHONI,JHEEL KE US PAAR.PREM SHASTRA,FAREBI,DOST,KALA ADMI etc. Anwar Hussain acted in approx 120 movies, he stayed for many months in Allahabad during his last days, he died in 1988.
AKHTER HUSSAIN, the brother of Anwar and Nargis also tried his luck in Bollywood; he came out as a successful writer. He wrote the scripts of many popular films like RAAT AUR DIN, BEWAFA etc.
In 1950,REHANA SULTAN was born in Allahabad, she resided in Shahnoor Ali ganj, Patthargali, she did her schooling from Hamidiya College which was very near to her home, later she joined FTI, Pune and got diploma in acting, she emerged as one of the best actress of the Indian film industry with her stunning performances in the movies like HAAR JEET, PREM PARWAT,HUM RAHE NA RAHE,KISSA KURSI KA,KHOTTE SIKKE,MAI SHADI KARNE CHALI,DIL KI RAHE. Rehana Sultan got the best actress award for her movie CHETNA, it was a prestigious national award, she also received the best actress award for her fantastic performance in the super hit movie DASTAK.
S U SUNNY (Sami Ullah Sunny),one of the famous director was born in 1915 in Allahabad, he has produced and directed many super hit movies and became one of the best directors of the country, his very popular and unforgettable films are KOHINOOR,UDAN KHATOLA, BABUL, MELA,NATAK,GEET etc.
AMITABH BACHCHAN, the superstar of the millennium, was also born in Allahabad, the soil of Allahabad is proud of this man. Amitabh Bachchan has won almost all the prestigious awards of the country. He has acted in hundreds of super hit movies like DEEWAR, ZANJEER, SHOLEY,MUQADDER KA SIKANDER,KABHI KABHI,KHOON PASINA, DOSTANA,YARANA,SHAKTI,COOLIE,ABHIMAN,SHARABI,BAGHBAN, KABHI KHUSHI KABHI GHAM,AGNIPATH,BHOOTNATH,GANGA JAMUNA SARASWATI, SATTE PE SATTA, MAHAN, NASTIK, MARD, SILSILA, PAA etc. Amitabh has made many remarkable performances and is considered to be an institution of acting. There was a time when he was quoted as ONE MAN INDUSTRY, SUPERSTAR, and SHAHENSHAH OF THE BOLLYWOOD etc. Today no other actor has reached to the place where he stands. He has won almost all the awards like Film fare, National, Screen, IIFA, Sahara etc. Now the situation is that if he accepts any award, his acceptance itself increases the value of that particular award. He is a living legend.
Many other film personalities were also associated with this city Allahabad, like BHARAT BHOOSHAN,NAUSHAD,MUKESH,REENA ROY,SUSHMITA SEN etc, some of them got educated here, some were residing here for different purposes, they learned a lot from the soil of this city.
Nowadays, there are few more talented people, who proved their abilities and are successful; they are making the city proud by their achievements.
TANVEER ZAIDI got educated from St.Joseph’s College, IERT and Allahabad University. He started acting with theatre and went on acting in documentaries, video films and tele films. He also contributed with his voice to All India Radio. He became popular with his lead role in BELAGAAM; this feature film was produced by Anil Mehta and was directed by Gulzar’s associate R.L Mishra. Tanveer Zaidi has also played remarkable lead roles in plays and TV serials like JAIL MEIN HAI ZINDAGI, EK KAHANI, MANO YA NA MANO, MUSIC MANIA, ADRAK K PANJEY, KAB DOOR HOGA DIL KA TAMAS, CHUNNU MIAN KI CHAI etc. He has also acted in music videos like AMMANEH, SHARMILI NAZAR. Recently he has played a lead role in a super hit Hindi / Awadhi movie KAHE GAYE PARDES PIYA. The best thing of this man is that he is still very much in Allahabad and goes Mumbai only for shoots and presently he is the only actor from this city who is playing lead roles. His upcoming films are UMAS, 26 JANUARY, GOODMORNING INDIA, IKKEES KAMATIPURA MUMBAI.
ADITYA SRIVASTAVA was also born and brought up in Allahabad ,he graduated from Allahabad University, did theatre plays at Sangeet Samiti, civil lines, Allahabad, later he moved to Delhi and then to Mumbai for some serious assignments in commercial theatre. He started with small roles in Bollywood films like BANDIT QUEEN and DILSE, later we saw him performing a very good role in a super hit movie SATYA, he was the police inspector in the movie who kills Bhiku Mahatre (Manoj Bajpayee). After proving himself as a good actor he got many movies like BLACK FRIDAY, MOHANDAS, GULAL etc, but he got more popularity with the daily soap CID. In recently released movie KAALO he was seen killing the witch. Aditya is working in many more movies but in future he is interested to start a production house of his own.
DEEPRAJ RANA is another famous actor from Allahabad; he did his schooling from BHS i.e. Boys High School. Deepraj began his acting career by playing a small role in the movie MAI AZAD HU, later he acted in almost a dozen hit television serials like TARA,EK KAHANI, BETIYAN,JAIL MEIN HAI ZINDAGI,LEFT RIGHT LEFT,NA AANA IS DESH MEIN LADO etc. He has also acted in movies like MANGAL PANDEY, AANCH, and SATHIYA etc. His wife Natasha is also a very popular face of the small screen. Deepraj has started his own production house and has produced a series with the name of EK KAHANI, in future too he wants to try his luck as a producer, his residence is in Shivkuti, Allahabad where he comes on every festive season.
NEERAJ KUMAR of Allahabad University has also started his acting career from theatre plays, he entered in telywood through the serial NAYA ZAMANA, later he continued with serials like CRIME PETROL, RAJU BEN, BAHUBALI, BHAGYA VIDHATA, KHANDAN. Neeraj has also acted in movies like KRANTI, SARHADPAR etc. His upcoming movies are SHABRI, THE FLAG, CHITKABRE etc. He has once said that if he had not participated in drama festivals organized at Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad then he would not have become an actor today.
There are many other film fertinity from Allahabad like PAWAN SHANKER(TV ACTOR),CHANDRESH(TV ACTOR),VISHWANATH(FILM AND TV ACTOR),SHABBEER AHMAD(LYRICIST),TAUQEER ZAIDI (LYRICIST), KAMAL PANDEY(WRITER),AMAN SIDDIQUI(CHILD ARTISTE), SHANTI BHUSHAN(WRITER),YOGESH VIKRANT(WRITER), KAUSER HUSSAIN(PRODUCER),MANOJ GOSWAMI(CAMERA PERSON),KANU MUKHERJI(DANCE DIRECTOR), TIGMANSHU DHULIYA(DIRECTOR), SHUBHA MUDGAL(SINGER),AYUB KHAN(WRITER,DIRECTOR),ABHIJEET GHOSHAL(SINGER),VIJAY BENIDICT(SINGER),ARUN FRANK(TV DIRECTOR), SHADAB ALLAHABADI(LYRICIST), RAJESH GUPTA(MUSIC DIRECTOR),SANJAY MASOOM(WRITER),PARITOSH SAND(TV ACTOR), ANUPAM SHYAM(TV ACTOR),SANJAY ASTHANA(DIRECTOR).They all have made their name famous and in future we have more expectations from them.
There are many others too who are trying their best to make them established in the glamour industry, they are IMDAD USMANI (DIRECTOR), RAKESH SRIVASTAVA (DIRECTOR), RAJESH SRIVASTAVA (WRITER,PRODUCER), ROOMI SIDDIQUI (ACTOR),TALIB MEHDI (ACTOR) , APARNA (ACTOR), VIKRANT SHAH(ACTOR), GAURAVPARASHRI(SINGER), MEHDI ABIDI(WRITER), YASH MALVIYA (LYRICIST) etc, lots of hopes are from them. We are sure that Allahabad will remain the most beloved city of the Indian film industry.
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