H. S. Rawail

H. S. Rawail Biography

H. S. Rawail was a famous director of Bollywood yesterdays, best known for the critically acclaimed and commercially successful movies like Mere Mehboob, Sangursh, Laila Majnu and Mehboob Ki Mehndi. His full name is Harnam Singh Rawail. Rahul Rawail, the Bollywood director known for hits like Betaab and Love Story is his son. Started his career in the early 1940’s, he also worked as a cinematographer. After a series of major flops, he tasted success through Mere Mehboob starring Rajendra Kumar and Sadhana. Though he has directed only a few movies in the 1960s and 1970s, they still stand as memorable ones. He has also acted as the presenter of a few of his son’s movies like Anjaam and Bekhudi. H. S. Rawail has produced the super hits - Mere Mehboob and Mehboob Ki Mehndi.

Rawail was born in Lyallpur, Punjab in 1921. He dreamt to become a director and reached Mumbai. However he moved to Kolkata where he started writing scripts. His first movie as an independent film director was Dorangia Daku released in 1940. He also worked as a cinematographer for several films in the beginning phase of 1940s. After a series of flops, he delivered his first hit – Patanga in 1949 which included the super hit song, "Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon" sung by Shamshad Begum. Once again he went on to deliver 9 consecutive flops till mid 1950s.

Though he worked with major stars of the industry like Dev Anand, Rajendra Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Meena Kumari and Vyjayanthimala, his films flopped one after the other. Kanch Ki Gudiya, Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, Chalbaaz and Baazigar were some of his flops with leading stars. In 1963, Mere Mehboob happened, which became a trendsetter and established Rajendra Kumar and Sadhana as stars of Bollywood and revived Rawail’s career as well. Later he directed only a few movies, but they were all highly appreciated.

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Updated: November 18, 2015