Rajendra Nath

Rajendra Nath Malhotra (1931 − 13 February 2008) was a comedian actor in Nepalese, Indian Hindi and Punjabi films.

Early life and family

His family was from Karimpura locality of Peshawar but settled in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. He studied in college at Darbar College, Rewa where Arjun Singh (a Congress politician) and R.P. Agarwal were his class mates.

Rajendra Nath's elder brother Prem Nath went to Mumbai and became an actor, so Rajendra Nath joined him in 1949, they were good friends of Raj Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor. Rajendra Nath and Prem Nath's sister Krishna married actor-director, Raj Kapoor.^[1] He had also another brother 'Narendra Nath' who also became actor usually played some villain's role in the movies.

Career

Initially Rajendra Nath struggled to get roles till Sashadhar Mukherjee offered him a comedian's role in Dil Deke Dekho, a film directed by Nasir Hussain, starring Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh. In Nasir Hussain's Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai he along with Asha Parekh were a regular in many Nasir Hussain films, like Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Teesri Manzil, Baharon Ke Sapne, Pyar Ka Mausam. He also played villain's role in 'Hamrahi' opposite Shashikala whom he kills.He has done 187 movies. He was one of the most famous comedians. People used to start laughing just by having a look at him. He was second only to Mehmood in terms of popularity but comedy wise he was much better than him. His best role as comedian was in "Mere Sanam" and "Phir Wahi Dil Laya Hoon". He also played the role of Hero/Second Lead in "Vachan" and "Teen Bahuraniyan". He played supporting roles in films like 'Dharkan' by Devendra Goel and 'Jeevan Mrityu' by Rajashree Productions. He once played a buffoon called Popatlal in Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai, and the name grew so synonymous with Rajendra Nath that he used this name in TV series Hum Paanch.

He then did a large number of films, mostly comic roles, such as in An Evening in Paris and Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon. One of his most applauded performances was in Manoj Kumar's Purab Aur Paschim though may not be in a full fledged comedy role. He also contributed for Nepal's first movie called Maitighar which was shoot in Kathmandu,Nepal.

He starred in a number of Punjabi films such as Jatt Punjabi.

He also acted in the very famous TV serial Hum Paanch as Mr. Popat Lal.

He died on 13 February 2008 from a cardiac arrest.

References

External links

• Rajendra Nath at the Internet Movie Database
• Rajendra Nath Profile on Rediff
• Rajendra Nath Filmography