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K. Amarnath
K.Amarnath in 1978
Born1 December 1914
Mianwali, Punjab, British India
Died14 May 1983
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
NationalityIndian
OccupationIndian Film Producer/Director

K. Amarnath (1 Dec 1914 – 14 May 1983) was one of the earliest film makers of Indian Cinema. His career as a movie producer and director spanned over four decades in the film industry.

Early life

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Amarnath Gelaram Khetarpal was born in Mianwali, Punjab, British India. He spent his childhood in Mianwali and college years in Lahore. Inspired by Hollywood and British movies, Amarnath left home at a young age of 17 to join the film industry to become an actor.

Career

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Initially, K.Amarnath struggled for 4 years, first in Calcutta and then in Bombay acting in minor roles only. While working as a junior artiste, he realized that the director played a very important role in the making of a movie. So, his interest in acting in movies transferred to directing movies.

K.Amarnath - 1940
K.Amarnath with Salim Khan
K.Amarnath with son Mohan & Sanjay Khan

After assisting various directors such as B.R.Patel and Dhirubhai Desai, he finally got his first break as a director in 1936 by Mr. Lakhia of Metro Movietone for the film titled "Matwali Jogan"[1] aka "A Girl from Lahore". He was only 21 years old when he directed his first movie.

However, his major break came in 1937 when Ramaniklal & Mohanlal Shah, founders of Mohan Studios, Mumbai, offered him the opportunity to direct "Danger Signal" in Tamil.

At first, he directed 5 Tamil movies for Mohan Studios; two of them, "Minnalkodi"[2] and "Veer Ramani" - both released in 1937 and both starring K.T.Rukmini and B.Srinivas Rao became super hits.

From 1937 to 1951, he directed 14 movies for Mohan Studios and its sister concern, Ramnik Productions.

Excepting for "Village Girl", mostly all of them were action movies.

During the same time span, being an independent director, he also directed 6 movies for different production houses.

In 1952, K.Amarnath created his own production company, "K.Amarnath Productions" and in 1953 released "Alif-Laila" - the first movie under his banner, followed by 11 more movies made under his production company.

From 1936 to 1971, K.Amarnath produced/directed 35 movies.

His office was located at Ranjit Studios, Dadar, Mumbai.

K.Amarnath was a very versatile man. He not only produced and directed movies but also wrote the story & screenplay for many of his movies. Over the course of his career, the genres of the movies he directed ranged from action/suspense thrillers to family/social drama, legendary romantic tragedies, semi-musicals, costume drama to magical/fantasy movies. (See Filmography below).

Many well-known actors and music directors, worked in his movies. Some of them were - Ajit, Jayant (father of Amjad Khan), Murad, Pran (actor), Yakub, Gope, Mukri, Sajjan, Kishore Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Joy Mukherjee, Sanjay Khan, Bharat Bhushan, Salim Khan, Mehmood, Madhubala, Geeta Bali, Meena Kumari, Vyjayantimala, Nutan, Nimmi, Nalini Jaywant, Nanda, Nigar Sultana, Noor Jehan, Kum Kum, Kamini Kaushal, Shakila, Shashikala, Helen, Cuckoo, Indurani and also K.T.Rukmini & B.Shrinavasa Rao in the Tamil movies directed by him. Some of the music directors who gave their most memorable music in his movies were Nashad, Chitragupta (composer), O.P.Nayyar, Shyam Sundar, Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Ghulam Mohammed, Sardar Malik, and the brothers, Pt.Amarnath, Husnlal & Bhagatram.

Ajit (Ajit Khan) acted as a hero in 7 of the movies directed by K.Amarnath – Beqasoor, Meharbani, Sarkaar, Bara-Dari, Bada Bhai, Baraat and Kabli Khan. In fact, it was K.Amarnath who had suggested that he change his long name of "Hamid Ali Khan" to a shorter name. The first movie with his name changed to "Ajit" was "Beqasoor" -1950.[citation needed]

Shyam Sundar composed many unforgettable melodious songs in 3 of the hit movies directed by K.Amarnath – "Gaon ki Gori"- 1945, "Bazaar" - 1949 and "Alif-Laila" 1953.[3]

Mohammed Rafi always "considered" the song "aji dil ho kaaboo mein to dildaar ki aisi taisi" with G. M. Durrani and chorus - music by Shyam Sundar from "Gaon ki Gori" 1945 - to be his first Hindi Film Song.[4]

Noor Jehan was the heroine of 2 of the movies directed by K.Amarnath – "Gaon ki Gori "– 1945 and "Mirza Sahiban" – 1947. Both of them were super hits. Mirza Sahiban was her last movie in India before she moved to Pakistan.[5]

K.Amarnath was well known for promoting aspiring young individuals. He introduced Salim Khan to the movies. (Salim of Salim–Javed fame and father of Bollywood superstar, Salman Khan).[6] The first movie Salim acted in was K.Amarnath's " Baraat" – 1960.

Sanjay Khan's first movie signed as a hero in 1965 was for "Woh Din Yaad Karo".

Helen (actress)[7] got her first break as a main/solo dancer in K. Amarnath's "Alif-Laila" - 1953.[8]

Also, Minoo Mumtaz, sister of the famous Bollywood comedian Mehmood,[9] made her film debut in K.Amarnath's "Bara-Dari" - 1955.[10]

Four of the Hindi movies directed by K.Amarnath: Village Girl-Gaon Ki Gori - 1945[11] Mirza Sahibaan - 1947 - Beqasoor - 1950 (List of Bollywood films of 1950) and Bara-Dari - 1955 (List of Bollywood films of 1955) were among the top-grossing films of those years.

Family

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K.Amarnath lived in Shivaji Park, Mumbai - was married to Sumitra Batra and had 4 children – 2 sons and 2 daughters - Satish, Manmohan, Manju & Madhu.[12]

Filmography

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Year Title Genre Credit Star Cast
1936 Matwali Jogan Director/Story Gulab, S.Nazir, Ermeline, Putlibai, Rajinder Singh, Vimla, Azurie, Shahani, Miss Pokhraj, Rajkumari
1937 Danger Signal (Tamil) Action/Stunt Thriller Director N/A
1937 Pucca Rowdy (Tamil) Action/Stunt Thriller Director N/A
1937 Minnalkodi (Tamil) Action/Stunt/Suspense Thriller Director/Story K.T.Rukmini, B. Srinivasa Rao, Coco, Gogia Pasha
1937 Veer Ramani - (Tamil) (Veera Ramani) Action/Stunt Thriller Director/Story & Scenario K.T.Rukmini, B. Srinivasa Rao, S. R. Padma, T. V. Swami, K. Mani
1938 Bhagya Leela (Tamil) Director K.T.Rukmini, B. Srinivasa Rao, S. R. Padma
1939 Midnight Mail Action Director/Story & Scenario Yasmin, S.Nazir, Nazir, Indurani, Gulab, Master Gulam Kader, Master Shiraz, Chandrakant, P.Varne
1939 Bahadur Ramesh (a.k.a. Volunteer) Action Director Rajkumari, Yasmin (Betty Caroll), Nazir, S. Nazir, Jeevan, Sadiq Nawab, Devaskar, G.Rasool, Haroon
1939 Chasmawali Action Director Indurani, Ashik Hussain, S. Nazir, Miss Lobo, S.M.Sadiq, Anwari, A.M.Shirazi, Baby Indira
1940 Tatar Ka Chor (a.k.a. Thief of Tatar) Fantasy/Action/Stunt Thriller Director/Story Yakub, Indurani, Vatsala Kumthekar, Gulab, Mira, K.Hiralal
1940 Captain Kishori Action Director S.Nazir, Lalita Pawar, Yasmin, Agha
1941 Bulbule Baghdad Action/Stunt Thriller Director/Story & Scenario Indurani, Gulab, Jayant, Yakub, W.M.Khan, Sadiq, Anant Marathe
1942 Zevar Action Director Jayant, Indurani, E. Billimoria, Raaj, Veena, Badri Prasad, Jagan, Mirajkar, Rama Shukul
1943 Chhed Chhad Social Director Sitara, Nazir, Gope, Majid, Rajkumari
1944 Bandukwali Action/Stunt Thriller Director S.Nazir, Romila, Anil Kumar, Rekha Pawar, Prakash, Mehar Banu
1945 Gaon Ki Gori (a.k.a. Village Girl) Romantic/Family-Social Drama Director/Story & Scenario Noor Jehan, Nazir, Durga Khote, Rama Shukul, Anant Marathe, Gita Nizami, Jagdish Sethi
1947 Roop Nagar Costume Drama Director Jayant, Raj Rani, Amrutlal, Mumtaz
1947 Mirza Sahiban (1947 film)|Legendary Romantic Tragedy Director/Story & Scenario Noor Jehan, Trilok Kapoor, Gope, Gulab, Amir Bano, Misra, Laxman, Baby Anwari, Cuckoo
1949 Bazar - (Bazaar (1949 film)) Semi-Musical/Social Director/Story & Scenario Nigar Sultana, Shyam, Yakub, Gope, Amir Bano, Misra, Cuckoo, Badri Prasad, Mangla
1949 Shoharat Social Director/Story Sofiya, Jayant, Padma Banerjee, E.Billimoria, Amir Bano
1950 Beqasoor Family-Social Drama Director/Story Madhubala, Ajit, Yakub, Gope, Pramila, Durga Khote, Geeta Nizami, Ramesh, Mangla
1950 Meharbani Social Drama Director Ajit, Yakub, Gope, Indu Pal, Begum Para, Shanta Pawar, Rama Shukul, Cuckoo
1951 Sarkar Costume/Action Drama Director/Story & Screenplay Ajit, Usha Kiron, Veena, Shashikala, Ulhas, Cuckoo, Hiralal, S.Nazir, Murad
1953 Laila Majnu Legendary Romantic Tragedy Director Nutan, Shammi Kapoor, Wasti, Ulhas, Om Prakash, Cuckoo and guest stars Jayant & Vijay Kumar
1953 Alif-Laila Magical/Fantasy Adventure Producer/Director Nimmi, Asha Mathur, Pran, Vijay Kumar, Gope, Murad, Maya Devi, Amrit Rana, Tikku
1954 Mehbooba Costume Drama Producer/Director/Story Nalini Jaywant, Shammi Kapoor, Gope, Hiralal, Amar, Achala Sachdev, W.M Khan
1955 Bara-Dari Romantic-Costume Drama Producer/Director Geeta Bali, Ajit, Pran, Chandra Shekhar, Gope, Murad, Amir Bano, Ramesh Thakur, Cuckoo
1956 Naya Andaz Semi-Musical/Social Producer/Director/Story & Screenplay Meena Kumari, Kishore Kumar, Pran, Gope, Johnny Walker, Kum Kum, Murad, Jayant
1957 Bada Bhai Family-Social Drama Producer/Director Kamini Kaushal, Ajit, Jayant, Ameeta, Kum Kum, Nazir Hussain, Anant (Marathe) K., Amrit Rana, Helen, Tun Tun
1959 Kal Hamara Hai Social Drama Producer Madhubala, Bharat Bhushan, Jayant, Leela Chitnis, Jagdev, Hari Shivdasani, Murad, Deepak
1960 Baraat Romantic/Family-Social Drama Producer/Director/Story & Screenplay Ajit, Shakila, Mukri, Salim, Pratima Devi, Murad, Sajjan
1961 Bada Admi Social Drama Producer Sheikh Mukhtar, Subi Raj, Vijaya Chowdhary, Jayant, Mukri, Ulhas, Sajjan
1963 Kabli Khan Costume Drama Producer/Director Ajit, Helen, Jayant, Mukri, Samson, Salim, Amrit Rana, Indra Bansal, W.M. Khan, Deepak
1964 Ishaara Romantic/Family-Social Drama Producer/Director Vyjayantimala, Joy Mukherjee, Jayant, Pran, Azra, Subi Raj, Sajjan, Pratima Devi
1971 Woh Din Yaad Karo Romantic/Family-Social Drama Producer/Director/Story & Screenplay Nanda, Sanjay, Shashikala, Mehmood, Dhumal, Madan Puri, Murad, Ulhas, Wasti

References

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  1. ^ Ashish Rajadhyaksha; Paul Willemen; Professor of Critical Studies Paul Willemen (10 July 2014). Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. Routledge. pp. 42–. ISBN 978-1-135-94318-9.
  2. ^ The Advent of Sound in Indian Cinema: Theatre, Orientalism, Action, Magic jmionline.org
  3. ^ "Shyam Sundar – A Genius Composer". 29 October 2012.
  4. ^ "Sangeet Mahal : The Music Greats". Archived from the original on 26 May 2007. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
  5. ^ "Hall of Fame - Noor Jehan - The Musical Greats". Sangeet Mahal. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  6. ^ Anupama Chopra (2000). Sholay, the Making of a Classic. Penguin Books India. pp. 15–. ISBN 978-0-14-029970-0.
  7. ^ Jerry Pinto (2006). Helen: The Life and Times of an H-bomb. Penguin Books India. pp. 223–. ISBN 978-0-14-303124-6.
  8. ^ "Helen of Bollywood". The Hindu. 14 April 2006.
  9. ^ Tilak Rishi (5 June 2012). Bless You Bollywood!: A tribute to Hindi Cinema on completing 100 years. Trafford Publishing. pp. 107–. ISBN 978-1-4669-3962-2.
  10. ^ "The unknown brother'n sisters of B'wood". 9 August 2006.
  11. ^ "Gaon Ki Gori Hindi movie (1945)". Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  12. ^ "K. Amarnath Productions". k-amarnath-movie-producer-director.com. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
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  • .[1] K.Amarnath at Internet Movie DataBase
  • .[2] Bara-Dari - 1955 at Internet Movie DataBase
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