The arch villain of Bollywood, Pran Krishan Sikand – or Pran as he is popularly known – was Friday named for the Dadasaheb Phalke award.
The actor turned 93 in February this year.
Confirming the news, a source from the Information & Broadcasting Ministry told IANS: “Yes, he (Pran) is getting Dadasaheb Phalke award.”
Pran acted in over 400 movies in a career spanning over six decades and played a vast range of roles — from a hero to a villain to a character artist.
He became a symbol of hatred after his portrayals of a bad guy in a series of films including hits like “Madhumati”, “Ziddi” and “Ram Aur Shyam”.
If he played a villain to the hilt, he was equally good when he stepped into character roles and won many hearts as loveable Mangal Chacha in “Upkar”, thoroughly entertained as street-smart fraud in “Victoria No.203”, and epitomised on-screen friendship in the role of a rough but kind Pathan in “Zanjeer”.
File Photo : AFP