#GoldenFrames: Karan Dewan

Karan Dewan starred in over a hundred movies in his film career of thirty-seven years, and most of them were silver jubilees. He was a lead actor in seventy-five movies. The actor also tried his hands as a production executive for some features released under the banners of B.R. Films and Yashraj Films. Dewan was also working as a casting agent for the film unit of 'Maya' (1966).

In This Pic : Karan Dewan, Golden Frames

Pic Courtesy : Wikipedia

Born as Karan Chopra in Gujranwala, Punjab, Pakistan, on November 6, 1917—he was the youngest of three brothers. He started as a journalist while still in college in Lahore. He used to edit a film-based magazine 'Jagat Lakshmi' in Urdu, while his brother Jaimani Dewan was the film producer and director. Karan met one of the local distributors Tarachand Barjatya, who was then the Manager of Chandanmal Inder Kumar's distribution office at Lahore. Through his connection with Barjatya, he landed in Kolkata and in 1939, he made his acting debut as Puran in the Punjabi movie 'Puran Bhagat' (1939). The movie was produced by Raisaheb Sukhlal Karnani and directed by Roop K. Shorey's father, R. L. Shorey.

In This Pic : Karan Dewan, Golden Frames

Karan's second movie 'Mera Maahi' (1941), was also in Punjabi, directed by Shankar Mehta in Lahore—starring Ragini and Manorama. Aside from his fine acting skills, he was also a great singer. In his second film, Karan sang songs under the baton of legendary music director Shyam Sunder for the first time. His unique voice landed him more offers and in 1944 released 'Rattan,' he sang for Naushad. Karan married actress-singer Manju, who had worked in 'Aadmi' (1939) and its (original) Marathi version 'Manoos' (1939), in a character role. She worked for six years in movies. She is also known for her role in Motilal's 'Chhoti Chhoti Baatein'. After acting in Dewan's most famous movie 'Rattan', the two got married. The couple has five daughters and two sons.

(Photo: Manju and Karan Dewan in a poster from the movie 'Rattan')

In This Pic : Manju, Karan Dewan, Golden Frames

The movie was a romantic musical drama directed by M. Sadiq, which became one of the most popular movies of that year. It paired Karan Dewan with Swarnalata. The song 'Saawan Ke Baadalon', sung by Dewan and Zohrabai Ambalewali, is picturised on Dewan and Swarnalata. It became famous as the pair's signature song.

(Photo: Still from the movie 'Rattan')

In This Pic : Karan Dewan, Golden Frames

As a film journalist in Lahore, he connected with evergreen actress Devika Rani, who invited him to come to Mumbai. Karan taught Urdu pronunciation to actors and actresses. Karan Dewan went on acting in several films which garnered huge responses from the audience. 'Gaali' (1944) was a social movie, written and directed by Rama Chowdhary, for producer Nanubhai Desai, under his N. R. Desai Productions banner. It co-starred Dewan with Manjula and Yakub. 'Bhai Jaan' (1945) was a successful Muslim social family melodrama, which starred Dewan with Noor Jehan, Shah Nawaz, Meena (Shorey) and Anees Khatoon under a small production company called United Films which was praised for quality and content. The music was composed by Shyam Sunder.

(Photo: Poster from the movie 'Bhai Jaan')

In This Pic : Karan Dewan, Golden Frames