Om Prakash was born on 19th December in Lahore. From childhood, he was fun-loving as we call in Hindi, a total ‘mast maula’.
The first character he played was in Ramleela. And no he did not play the role of Ram or Laxman or even Hanuman, but Sita. In that era, many male artists used to enact the role of female characters in theatres. Om Prakash also played the role of Kamala in the stage play by the famous Dewan Mandir Natak Samaj Koliwada.
One interesting fact about him was that he was a learned classical singer. He started taking lessons in classical music when he was just twelve and continued these lessons for twelve years.
He joined All India Radio as an actor as well as a singer. He got popularised as Fateh Din all over Punjab and Lahore.
Not just acting and singing, but Om Prakash was also interested in writing as well. He used to write dramas for theatres.
While working in All India Radio, Fateh Din urf Om Prakash met a famous writer Imtiaz Ali Taj on whose play, Film Anarkali was made.
Journey From Radio to Films
It was an interesting tale of the way he got scouted. Om Prakash left All India Radio as he felt he was paid less than his peers. While searching for a job, he attended a wedding ceremony where he was in his own character — goofing around and making people laugh! At that moment, he caught the eye of famous producer Dalsukh Pancholi.
Dalsukh sent Om Prakash a telegram, inviting him over to Lahore. At first, he thought this was a joke but his family asked him to go and check it out. We are thankful that he heeded their call!
The twist came when Om Prakash went to Lahore and called Dalsukh from the railway station. He told his name but Dalsukh could not recognize him. He felt disheartened.
While roaming around his old city, he met Pran who recognized him at once. It was Pran who told Om Prakash that Dalsukh knows him as Fateh Din and not by his real name.
Om Prakash called Dalsukh again and this time he introduced himself by his popular name and rightly Dalsukh recognized him.
In the movie Daasi, Pancholi gave Prakash his big break as an actor and that’s how he came into the world of cinema.
The turning of the event
Om Prakash was starting to make his career as an actor when a tragedy hit his life. India got independence but also got divided. Om Prakash has to leave Lahore and got settled in Bombay. But his life there, in the beginning, was not at all hunky-dorky!
He was jobless and penniless. Things changed and he got his first break in Bombay with the film Lakhpati as a villain.
Om Prakash has worked with big names of the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s as well.
He saw Dilip Kumar’s charisma and also Rajesh Khanna’s romance.
He created a niche of his own even with Dev Anand and also saw the emergence of Amitabh Bachchan as an angry young man.
Om Prakash started the trend of special characters known as ‘Character Roles’ or Guest Appearances who with just a few dialogues and presence, hold the story together. He owned the screen whenever he appeared whether as Shyamu the tangewala in Howrah Bridge or as the rich spoilt Girdharilal in Buddha Mil Gaya.
His screen presence in Golmaal would not be more than 15 minutes in the entire film. However, his scenes with Utpal Dutt or Kesto Mukherjee are still remembered.
Think of it how the film will look like without Arjun Singh’s Dadoo in Namak Halal or the ever-suspicious Jeejaji in Chupke Chupke.
In his 40-decade career, he acted, produced, and lived through his characters without stereotyping himself. Om Prakash was a versatile actor with a sober personality. Even after so many years, he is still remembered by the critics for his role in Gopi and by the common folks for his camaraderie with actors from Raj Kapoor to Amitabh Bachchan.
