XPost: rec.music.indian.misc

It is learnt from newspaper reports that veteran film actor
Ram Mohan passed away in Bombay on the 6th December.

I am quoting below a newspaper report giving some details :

MUMBAI:- Bollywood Famous actor Ram Mohan died at the age of
84 in the afternoon on Dec 6. The actor who lived in his Juhu
apartment in Mumbai succumbed to old age.

Shedding more light on the incident, Ashok Shekhar, son of
veteran actor Chandrashekhar mentions, “I don’t have much
details. All I know is that he had his last breath at 3 pm
today due to old age. The last time I spoke to him was four
months ago, at the time he was completely bed ridden. He was
not keeping well since the last six months.”

Mohan’s wife expired six months ago and the senior actor
lived with his two sons who stayed in the similar colony in
Juhu. The veteran actor’s funeral will be held tomorrow (Dec
7) at 11 am at Pawan Hans crematorium Vile Parle, Mumbai.

Mohan began his acting career in early 50s, and has been a
part of movies like Heer Ranjha, Purab Aur Pachhim, Zanjeer,
Yaarana, Gupt, International Khiladi, Rangeela, Kaho Na..
Pyaar Hai, Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara among others. The actor
worked actively in Bollywood till late 2000s.


My personal memory of (the late) Ram Mohan concerns two film songs
where he had appeared in each song sequence, though he was not
singing any lines as such. The first is from an obscure film of
1959 "Do Behnen" which starred Chand Usmani, Rajendra Kumar and
Shyama. {Regrettably, the first two are no longer with us.} The
scene involves a sort of boat race, where the girls are rowing a
narrow boat while the men are in another similar boat. Chand
Usmani. the leader of the girls' group, is joyfully singing a song
"Jhuk jhuk jhola khaye...". Ram Mohan is the leader of the men's
group in the other boat and, from time to time, indulges in a
lusty alaap. Here is a video link to this song :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WwvopjMTeM

Music for the above film was composed by Salil Chowdhury.

The other song is from the 1962 film "Bombay Ka Chor", stg. Mala
Sinha and Kishore Kumar. There is a wedding in the village and
Helen launches into a delectable dance (music by Ravi) :
"....Hum to ghabra ke pyaar kar baiThe...". Kishore Kumar is
ogling Mala Sinha, rather pointedly, while Mala is scowling at
him. And Ram Mohan, resenting these goings on, is looking
daggers at Kishore Kumar. Here is the video link to this song :

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=Bombay+ka+Chor+-+1962&
ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

Apart from the above two films, there is one more film that does
not find a mention in the newspaper reports, and that is "Mere
Huzoor", released in 1968. Here, Ram Mohan appeared in another
negative character (Nabban Miyan), who induces Jeetendra (already
married to Mala Sinha) to fall in love with a courtesan.

In his personal life, Ram Mohan was a very sincere and helpful
person. I remember reading a story about how he approached a
prominent Congress leader in Bombay (Gurudas Kamat) to lend a
helping hand to another veteran actor A. K. Hangal who was
seriously ill at the time (and passed away later on). Kamat,
at Ram Mohan's behest, arranged to send a sum of Rs. one lakh
towards the medical treatment of Hangal.

So, Ram Mohan ....... R.I.P.



Afzal

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