Bharat Bhushan

Bharat Bhushan was born on 14 June 1920 in a Vaishya (Baniya) family at Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.

His father, Raibahadur Motilal, was the government pleader of Meerut. His mother died when he was two years old. His elder brother was film producer Ramesh Chandra,[2] who owned the Ideal Studio at Lucknow. The brothers left for Aligarh to stay with their grandfather after their mother's death. He did his studies and earned a graduate degree from Dharam Samaj College, Aligarh. After this he took to acting against his father's wishes. He first went to Calcutta to join cinema and later established himself in Bombay.

He married into a prominent family in Meerut, Zamindar Raibahadur Budha Prakash's daughter Sarla. They had two daughters, Anuradha and Aparajita. Anuradha had polio-associated complications. His other daughter Aparajita played the role of Mandodari in Ramanand Sagar's famous serial Ramayan. Bhushan's wife Sarla died of labour complications after delivering their second child in the early 1960s, soon after the release of film Barsaat Ki Raat. In 1967, he married actress Ratna, his co-star in the same film. Ratna was a prominent actress who played the sister or friend of the heroine in many films. Among her notable TV appearances was the serial Trishna as mother of the four young girls. It was an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

In an interview, his daughter Aparajita had said that after the sudden demise of her husband, she turned to acting. Aparajita has done more than 50 films and TV serials.

Bhushan owned a bungalow in Bandra suburb of Bombay. He was an avid reader and boasted of a fine collection of books, which he had to sell off like his cars and bungalows in bad times, after he turned co-producer at the instance of his brother. Only a few of his films were successes and unfortunately, the rest flopped.[3] He died after he escaped his financial crisis, on 27 January 1992.[4]

He made his debut with the Kidar Sharma hit Chitralekha (1941).[5] However, he struggled for over a decade to make a mark in Hindi movies till Baiju Bawra (1952), which gave him instant stardom and legendary status along with Mohammad Rafi, Meena Kumari and Naushad Ali. Though a very talented actor and a prominent star of the 1950s and 1960s in Hindi language films, he often took on roles of tragic musicians in the movies. Films in which he starred as lead actor include Basant Bahar. His pairing with actress Madhubala proved to be very popular as they worked together in successful films like Gateway of India (1957), Phagun (1958) and Barsaat Ki Raat (1960).

Bhushan in Baiju Bawra (1952)

"He portrays historical and mythological characters the best in Hindi movies," states contemporary actor-producer Chandrashekar. He wrote scripts and stories for Barsat Ki Raat, Nayi Umar Ki Nayi Fasal, Basant Bahar, Dooj Ka Chand, etc. He was the producer of Dooj Ka Chand. His brother R. Chandra made many films such as Bebus, Minar, and Basant Bahar.

He was the recipient of the second Filmfare best actor award for the film Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in 1954. Most of the great songs of major singers of that period such as Rafi, Manna Dey, Talat, and Mukesh were pictured on him. He was the first chocolate-faced good-looking star of Hindi films. He was one of the few actors who had a good sense of music, so most music-based movies were made with him in lead roles in the 1950s and 1960s.

He acted in Hindi language movies until the 1990s. He is still loved and revered by the Indians for the great movies and great songs that he gave in spite of personal tragedies and stiff competition from his contemporaries. He is considered to be one of the greatest stars and legends of Hindi cinema.

• 1955 – Won, Filmfare Best Actor Award for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
• 1956 – Nominated, Filmfare Best Actor Award for Mirza Ghalib

• Gulzar; Govind Nihalani; Saibal Chatterjee (2003). Encyclopaedia of Hindi cinema. Popular Prakashan. p. 335. ISBN 8179910660.

• Bharat Bhushan at IMDb
• Bharat Bhushan, the tragic hero