Shivraj

Shivraj Biography

Shivraj was a film actor associated with golden era of Bollywood. He played supporting roles onscreen in the 1950s and 1960s, mostly of elder citizen roles representing common man. He did most of those roles during his younger days. His role as old fakir in M.V. Raman’s Pehli Jhalak (1955) lip-syncing the Hemant Kumar song Zameen chal rahi, aasman chal raha hai is one of his most memorable roles onscreen. He passed away in June 2017. He worked in Hindi cinema for 5 decades, and remained away from limelight during his last days. He was one of the most recognizable faces in the Hindi cinema of the 1950s and 1960s, who did around 200 movies.

He got type casted as loyal & obedient manager or servant to his master, and was a permanent fixture to this kind of roles in the 1960s throughout. Yet he played his part well in some of the magnificent and iconic movies in the 1950s and 1960s. Uncle Kashinath in Amiya Chakraborty’s Seema (1955) with whom Nutan initially lives, Paro’s father Nilkant, in Bimal Roy’s classic Devdas (1955), a Christian priest in L.V. Prasad’s Miss Mary (1957), Acharyaji of an orphanage in Naresh Saigal’s Ujala (1959), devoted Diwan to Shammi Kapoor’s prince character in K. Shankar’s Raj Kumar (1964), – his noted roles are infinite. His roles remained small in most cases, yet he got opportunity to become a part of history of Hindi cinema.

In the 1970s, his role as foster father to Vijay Arora and Rishi Kapoor in Yaadon Ki Baraat (1973) and Amar Akbar Antony (1977) respectively need special mention. The kindly tailor Ilahabadi in Amar Akbar Antony is one of the memorable roles of his career 1970s. Though his character was not so important in the movies he portrayed, he was an essential element of formula movies of 1950s and 1960s.

He started off his career in the early 1950s and concentrated on to doing villain roles during the first phase of his career. He played a young villain’s role in Amiya Chakraborty’s Patita (1953), yet he moved to other character roles very soon. He was active in the film industry till 1990s, and was also seen in Doordarshan serials of the 80s and the 90s.

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Updated: January 29, 2018