Pran (actor)

Pran Krishan Sikand (12 February 1920 – 12 July 2013), better known by his mononym, Pran, was a multiple Filmfare and BFJA award-winning Indian actor, known as a movie villain and character actor in Hindi cinema from the 1940s to the 1990s. He acted as a hero from 1940–47 and as a villain from 1942–1991 and played supporting and character roles from 1948–2007.

In a long and prolific career he appeared in over 350 films. He played the leading man in films like Khandaan (1942), Pilpili Saheb (1954) and Halaku (1956). His roles in the films like Madhumati (1958), Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai (1960), Upkar (1967), Shaheed (1965), Purab Aur Paschim (1970), Ram Aur Shyam(1967), Aansoo Ban Gaye Phool (1969), Johny Mera Naam (1970), Victoria No. 203 (1972), Be-Imaan (1972), Zanjeer (1973), Don (1978), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) and Duniya (1984) are considered to be among his best performances.

Pran has received numerous awards and honours in his career. He won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award in 1967, 1969 and 1972 and was awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. He was awarded as the 'Villain of the Millennium' by Stardust in 2000. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 2001 for his contributions to the arts. He was honoured in 2013 with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest national award for cinema artists, by the Government of India. In 2010, he was named on the list of CNN's Top 25 Asian actors of all time.

Pran

Pran may refer to:

Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Harivansh Bachchan (IPA: [əmɪˈtaːbʱ ˈbəttʃən]; born 11 October 1942) is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s for movies like Zanjeer and Deewar, and was dubbed India's first "angry young man" for his on-screen roles in Bollywood. Often referred to in the media as the "Shahenshah of Bollywood", "Star of the Millennium" or "Big B", he has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades. Bachchan is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema. So total was his dominance of the movie scene in the 1970s and 1980s that the French director François Truffaut called him a "one-man industry."

Bachchan has won numerous accolades in his career, including three National Film Awards as Best Actor and many awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies. He has won 15 Filmfare Awards and is the most-nominated performer in any major acting category at Filmfare, with 40 nominations overall. In addition to acting, Bachchan has worked as a playback singer, film producer and television presenter. He also had a stint in politics in the 1980s.

Dadasaheb Phalke

Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Marathi: धुंडीराज गोविंद फाळके), popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke (Marathi: दादासाहेब फाळक) ( pronunciation ) (30 April 1870 – 16 February 1944), was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as the Father of Indian cinema. Starting with his debut film, Raja Harishchandra in 1913, now known as India's first full-length feature, he made 95 movies and 26 short films in his career spanning 19 years, till 1937, including his most noted works: Mohini Bhasmasur (1913), Satyavan Savitri (1914), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and Kaliya Mardan (1919).

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, for lifetime contribution to cinema, was instituted in his honour by the Government of India in 1969. The award is one of the most prestigious awards in Indian cinema and is the highest official recognition for film personalities in the country. A postage stamp bearing his face was released by India Post to honour him in 1971. An honorary award from the Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Mumbai was introduced in the year 2001, for lifetime achievement in Indian cinema.

Cinema of India

The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic cultures of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Assam, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Bollywood among others. Indian films came to be followed throughout Southern Asia, the Greater Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the former Soviet Union. Cinema as a medium gained popularity in the country and as many as 1,600 films in various languages of India were produced annually.Dadasaheb Phalke is known as the father of Indian cinema. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award, for lifetime contribution to cinema, was instituted in his honour, by the Government of India in 1969, and is the most prestigious and coveted award in Indian cinema.

In the 20th century, Indian cinema, along with the Hollywood and Chinese film industries, became a global enterprise. As of 2013, in terms of annual film output, India ranks first, followed by Nollywood,Hollywood and China. In 2012, India produced 1,602 feature films. Indian film industry reached overall revenues of $1.86 billion (INR 93 billion) in 2011. This is projected to rise to $3 billion (INR 150 billion) in 2016. Enhanced technology paved the way for upgrading from established cinematic norms of delivering product, altering the manner in which content reached the target audience. Visual effects based, super hero science fiction, and epic films like Enthiran, Baahubali, Krrish emerged as blockbusters. Indian cinema found markets in over 90 countries where films from India are screened.