BALRAJ SAHNI : The Gentleman Actor
All proficient actors enact sundry roles with an effortless
ease as acting comes naturally to them. They don’t have to make conscientious
efforts to cast themselves in any particular mould. Strictly in keeping with the
famous saying "A good actor is a good person" he never let the mercenary
instinct soak into his mind and joined films only team hare necessities for his
family.' He enlivened a doctor lost in his own world in Anuradha' or a Muslim
shattered by 'Gio-political and familial debacle in 'Garam Hauva'. J.S. JOHAR transmits some real life
experiences of this renowned artiste who immortalised not just himself but also
character that he played.
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With his wife Damyanti in 1936 |
ln London's Royal Academy
of Dramatic Arts, at the entrance, there is a saying on the wall."A Good
Actor is a Good Man".
And that is the only reason that Balraj Sahni was such a good
actor. Before joining the ' celluloid world, he was involved in Political activities
and was a regular cardholder of the communist Party, taking part in Parades and
things like that. Once during one such rally he got locked up. At that time his wife Damayanti
was expectant. And his only son Ajay was a small child. So when he was in jail for
his Political activities, his family’s financial condition was in a very bad
shape. They could barely man age two square meals and at times there was nothing
in the house. At this critical time Balraj's little son Ajay was offered a bit
child role by K. Asif in his film "Halchal". Dalip Kumar and Nargis
were cast in this film as hero and heroine. Bairaj Sahni too had a role, but was
in jail at the time. Every day he was brought to the studio in a police van
with special permission. lronically he was playing a police inspector in the
film. So he would come to the studio in his jail clothes, change over into his
lnspectors uniform and there after the day's shooting, change back into his
prisoner’s togs.

Before joining the films, Balraj Sahni and his wife Damayanti
were very much involved with the stage. They were acting in a number of IPTA
plays. KA Abbas was also an IPTA man. And 'Dharti Ke Lal' was Abbas Saab's
first film and as such like a little. adventure for the IPTA people. The film was
about the floods in Bengal. But at that time Balraj had not made it big. lnstead
his wife Damayanti had already earned name & fame. Balrai Sahni was still
struggling. lnitially he had second thoughts about taking acting seriously.
Poetry just came to
Shelley; Keats and Byron. They did not go to any school of literature to study
poetry. lt just came to them. lt applies as much to an actor although there are acting schools today.
Balraj Sahni never went to any film institute.
And, yet, he was a far far better than those who had received
professional training. Shelley said that poetry came to a poet as leaves to a tree
otherwise it need not come at all. Earlier Charlie Chaplin, one of the greatest
actors of all times, was the result of
his personal
background. He as Bernard
Shaw once said, was the only genius that the film industry had ever produced.
Balraj Sahni, too, Was a brilliant actor to whom acting came naturally. He had
once told in an interview that there were two types of actors; One who really loved the cinema and were totally
relaxed in front of the camera. The other worked with a great deal of tension there was a sort of 'bright" in front of
the camera, and as a result of the stress of that 'bright" the actor suffered
several ailments, migraine and heart problems etc.
This "relaxation in camera" makes a good actor ln dubitably
Balraj Sahni had it. He could play with ease the character, of a millionaire in
‘Talash' or a pauper in 'Do Bigha Zamin'.
Balrai Sahni was very, fond of his daugter Shabnam and her untimely
death shook the actor profusely. During the shooting of his last film
"Garam Hawa", Balraj Sahni had to enact a scene at his daughter's
death bed which turned out highly realistic. He was shaken to the core while
doing the traumatic scene. But he ardently believed that no one is born without
pain and blood. And nothing is achieved without suffering and sorrow. And then comes
the feeling of exhilaration. Balraj's brother Bhisham Sahni was a well-known
writer who wrote the book Tamas. His son Parikshit Sahni is also an actor.
Balraj Sahni died on 13 April 1973, of a massive cardiac arrest at the age of
59. He had been depressed for some time by the untimely death of his young
daughter, Shabnam.
However according to his son Ajay Sahni, it was rather cruel
to have made him do enacted with the
actor's real life tragedy. The memory of his own daughter's death was very
fresh in his mind. And she was the one he had loved more than anybody else. ln
those days he used to write to his friends that he was going through a very
depressed period. And his friends knew from that he was being stabbed in the
heart very' very deeply. During the shooting of this scene he had to bring it all
back. But that is called art.
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