Mahipal

Mahipal Biography

Mahipal was a Bollywood actor of yesterdays best known for the movies, Navrang directed by V. Shantaram in 1959 and Parasmani (1963) directed by Babubhai Mistry. Though he has played lead hero in numerous movies in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, he is still remembered for Bollywood classics – Navrang and Parasmani. He played lead hero in both these movies and both were huge musical hits with many golden songs. Mahipal ruled the roost once in Hindi films and was active in the industry till 1980’s doing supporting roles. He also acted in a few fantasy films based on stories from Arabian Nights, which gained him popularity in gulf countries. He has acted around 90 movies.

Parasmami is also remembered as the big break of great music directors, Laxmikant Pyarelal to Bollywood. In both these movies, he played the role of a poet/singer. He was paired with Sandhya Shantaram in Navrang where he plays the role of a poet who lives in a fantasy world and had an illusion to a lady Maya, who is none other than his wife Jamuna. In the movie Parasmani, yesterday actress Gitanjali played the role of a princess and his heroine. He played the lead role of Ram in 1961 mythological movie, Sampoorna Ramayana where Sita’s role was played by Anita Guha.  

He was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan in 1919. He migrated to Mumbai in the 1940’s. 1942 movie, Nazrana marked his Bollywood entry. He has worked with great Bollywood directors of his time - Wadia Brothers, Sohrab Modi, Shantaram, Babubhai Mistri etc. He was mostly seen portraying singer, artist, mythological and religious kind of roles. He is known as an excellent dancer and songs like Salamat raho, Woh Jab Yaad Aaye, Aada hai chandama, Tu chupi hai kaha, Are jaare hat natkhat etc were pictured on him. His movies always owned strong music backup. He loved travelling and has gone for a world tour after his Bollywood retirement.

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Updated: May 19, 2014