K. N. Singh

K. N. Singh Biography

Krishan Niranjan, best known as K. N. Singh was a Bollywood film actor throughout 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was known for playing villain and negative roles. Acted in over 200 films, he has been a part of several historic movies in the history of Bollywood cinema. He began his acting career in 1936 and has worked till late 1980s. A prominent villain of Bollywood screen, he also played a few character roles. Many of his dialogues are very popular, such as “Sharam sharifon ko aati hai, chor aur daaku ko nahin” of Awara. He was one of the earliest and most memorable bad guys of Bollywood, who was almost seen in a ‘gentleman’ getup. Brutal ‘Jagga’ in Raj Kapoor's Awara was one of the earliest noted roles.

Krishan Niranjan was born on 1 September 1908 into a royal family. His father Chandi Prasad Singh was a prince and a prominent criminal lawyer. Krishan Niranjan who was a good sportsman during his younger days wanted to join Indian army. But his father wanted him to become a lawyer. He excelled in Javelin throw and Shot Put and was selected to represent India in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. But following his sister’s illness he returned back to his home. There he met showman Raj Kapoor who introduced him to Debaki Bose. Bose gave him the first break to Hindi films through Sunehra Sansar. The movie was released in 1936 marking his career debut in film industry.

Baghban (1938) established him as a leading villain on silver screen. Later he acted in more than 200 films. Though he got type casted as a white-collared gentleman villain on Hindi screen, he was one among those rare actors of Bollywood then, who could enact that role perfectly. He was associated with many iconic Hindi movies such as Sikandar, Jwar Bhata, Humayun, Awara, Jaal, CID, Howrah Bridge, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Amrapali, An Evening in Paris and many more. A few of his movies of 1970s include - Jhoota Kahin Ka, Haathi Mere Saathi, Mere Jeevan Saathi etc all featuring Rajesh khanna. With late 1970s he was seen in only cameo roles. Woh Din Aayega (1986) was his last release. He passed away on 31 January 2000 aged 92.

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Updated: April 09, 2016