Kishore Kumar got a real hard punch during the shooting, why did ‘villain’ Pran have to take this step?

New Delhi: In the history of Indian cinema, Kishore Kumar has been an artist whose energy and wit had no match. But sometimes this ‘fun’ of his used to become a headache for his fellow artists. One such interesting anecdote was shared by Bollywood’s famous villain Pran, which is related to the shooting of the film ‘Pehli Jhalak’. The pair of Pran and Kishore Kumar worked together in many memorable films like ‘Half Ticket’ and ‘Asha’, but something happened on the sets of ‘Pehli Jhalak’ which even Kishore da himself could not have imagined. The incident was of a fight scene, where Pran had to punch Kishore Kumar in the stomach, but due to Kishore Kumar’s playful nature, it seemed impossible to complete this scene.

Recalling this incident in an old interview, Pran Saheb had said that shooting a serious scene with Kishore Kumar was no less than a challenge. That day, during the fight scene, as soon as Pran went close to him and gave him a filmy punch, Kishore Kumar started laughing out loud instead of pretending to be in pain. About 12 to 14 retakes were done one after the other, but Kishore Kumar was not taking the name of being serious. The entire unit was worried and time was running out. Ultimately, Pran took a tough decision. In the next shot, as soon as the camera rolled, instead of waving his hands in the air, Pran gave a real hard punch to Kishore Kumar’s stomach. As soon as the actual injury occurred, Kishore Kumar screamed and doubled over in pain. Pran immediately said, “That’s the reaction we wanted for the film!”

After this incident, the scene was shot perfectly, but Kishore Kumar’s condition deteriorated for some time. Pran also jokingly admitted that Kishore Kumar’s personality was so infectious that while working with him, even a person with the image of a serious villain became like him. Pran said that if he had done one or two more films with Kishore Da, perhaps he too would have become his ‘clone’ and would have lost his seriousness. This story is still narrated with great interest in the corridors of Bollywood, which shows how deep the understanding and unique dedication towards work was among the artists of that era. Kishore Kumar is no longer among us today, but his mischiefs and his stories with legends like Pran Saheb still bring a smile on the faces of his fans.