Mumbai:
Family, fans and close friends on Saturday came together to give a final farewell to acting legend Pran, who passed away last night.
The Dadasaheb Phalke awardee died after prolonged illness at Lilavati Hospital last night. He was 93. The legendary actor is survived by his wife Shukla, daughter Pinky, and sons Arvind and Sunil.
The last rites of Pran Krishan Sikand, known to his fans only as Pran, were performed by his sons at Shivaji park crematorium in Dadar at noon.
"It is indeed a very sad day for us. The last rites were performed by both the sons," daughter Pinky told agencies. Bollywood personalities including Karan Johar, Shatrugan Sinha, Anupam Kher, Danny Denzongpa, Gulzar, Raza Murad, Tinu Anand, Kiran Kumar were spotted at the crematorium but present-day celebrities of the tinsel town were conspicuous by their absence.
A host of Bollywood celebrities, both old and young, had taken to Twitter to express their grief following the thespian's demise. Born into a wealthy family in Delhi, Pran lived and was educated in Lahore.
He pursued a course in photography in Lahore before a chance meeting with writer Wali Mohammad Wali got him a role in a 1940 Punjabi film 'Yamla Jat' in which he played the hero opposite Noorjehan.
After partition, Pran moved to Mumbai, then Bombay, in 1945, initially without much success. He tasted success with Dev Anand-Kamini Kaushal starrer 'Ziddi', a role which he had landed with the help of Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto and actor Shyam.
There was no looking back for him after that. Pran appeared in over 400 films since the 1940s, essaying both negative and character roles, with equal ease.
Pran played villain to all top heroes of his time--from Dilip Kumar to Dev Anand to Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan.
In his private life though, Pran was a gentleman, far removed from the dark characters he played on screen.
