Raja Paranjape

Raja Paranjape was an Indian actor, director, producer and writer who worked mainly in Marathi and Hindi film industries. He was born on 24 April 1910 in Miraj, a town in the Bombay Presidency of British India (now Maharashtra, India). He started his career as a theatre artist and performed in various Hindi and Marathi plays. He made his film debut in 1937 with Kanhopatra, a Marathi film directed by V. Shantaram. He went on to act in many films, such as Manoos (1939), Chacha Chowdhury (1953), Bandini (1963), Piya Ka Ghar (1972) and Us-Paar (1974). He also directed 29 films, including Jeevacha Sakha (1948), Pasant Aahe Mulgi (1956), Baap Bete (1959), Jagachya Pathivar (1960), Suvashini (1961), Pathlaag (1964), Padchhaya (1965) and Love and Murder (1966). He was known for his ability to bring a smile on the audience's face without any slapstick comedy and to bring them to tears without adding any glycerine to his own eyes. He was also a producer and a writer who collaborated with G.D.Madgulkar and Sudhir Phadke to produce Marathi films under the banner named Gajraj. His 1964 Marathi film Pathlaag was remade into the super-hit Hindi film Mera Saaya in 1966, starring Sunil Dutt and Sadhana. He was associated with about 80 Marathi and Hindi films in a career spanning 40 years. He died on 9 February 1979 in Pune, Maharashtra, India at the age of 68. He is regarded as one of the legends of Marathi cinema and has received many awards and honors, such as the Raja Paranjape Lifetime Achievement Award, which is named after him and given to the veterans of Marathi film industry.