Raja Paranjape – Famous filmmaker and actor of Marathi cinema

Raja Paranjape (1910 – 1979) was a prominent cine personality associated with Marathi cinema in the classic era. He was a well-known actor, screenwriter, producer and film director. He has also been associated with a few Hindi films, with a total of 80 films combining both these languages. He was associated with cine world for 4 decades. He played character roles in Bollywood films such as Jal Bin Machhli Nritya Bin Bijli, Bandhini, Us Paar, Piya Ka Ghar etc.

Raja Paranjape was born in Miraj of present-day southern Maharashtra. He joined Marathi film industry as an actor in the second half of 1930s and turned a film director in the late 1940s. Kanhopatra in 1937 was his debut flick as an actor, and later he appeared in 20 movies. He played Nutan’s father in Bollywood classic, Bandhini and has also appeared in senior roles in a few Bollywood films in the 1960s and 1970s.

Started off as an actor, he made his directorial debut with Balidaan in 1948. The following year he directed his first Hindi film, Do Kaliyan. He directed a total of 29 films, predominantly in Marathi. As a director Marathi film Aadhar in 1969 was his last release. In the 1970s he played a few character roles. He owned a production banner named Gajraj with Madgulkar and Phadake.

Raja Paranjape – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. His directorial venture, Pathlaag (1964) was remade to Hindi by Raj Ghosle as ‘Mera Saaya’ (1966) – one of the biggest suspense thrillers of Hindi cinema. However its Tamil version – Idhaya Kamalam was released one year prior to it.

2. He frequently worked with Madan Mohan for his Hindi films in the 1950s. Interestingly Madan Mohan composed music for Hindi version of Pathlaag – Mera Saaya, often dubbed as one of the biggest works of his career.

3. Dil Unko Utha Ke De Diya from Baap Bete is an evergreen classic composed by Madan Mohan for Raja Paranjape films.

4. He predominantly produced and directed Marathi films, and has directed Bollywood film, Love and Murder (1966) starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Ramesh Deo, Jaymala Adarsh and Hiralal, and a few more such as Do Kaliyan (1949), Chacha Chowdhury (1953), Baap Bete (1959) etc.