Bhagwan Dada: 10 things you probably didn’t know about India’s first dancing & action star

Full of life, multi-talented and an entertainer – Bhagwan Dada will always be remembered as Hindi cinema’s first dancing and action star. His has been an extraordinary journey of a common man who went out to become one of the biggest legends in Hindi cinema.  

Manglmurti Films, Kimaya Motion Pictures and Dr Monish Babre’s Ekk Albela is the untold story of Bhagwan Dada and his journey to fulfill his dreams. 

The biopic features award winning versatile actor Mangesh Desai as Bhagwan Dada and the powerhouse performer Vidya Balan portraying the role of renowned yesteryear actress Geeta Bali in her debut Marathi movie.

Ahead of Ekk Albela’s release, a biopic based on his rags-to-riches story, here are 10 things to know about the Bhagwan of Bollywood:

1.       Bhagwan Dada’s first talkie was Himmat E Marda (1934) in which Lalita Pawar was his heroine. During one scene, Bhagwan unintentionally slapped Lalita so hard that she was in coma for one and a half day.

2.       Bhagwan Dada was a fan of Chevrolet cars and out of this obsession he also acted in a film titled Chevrolet!
3.       Secularism was his biggest quality as an individual. During 1947 riots after the partition of India, Bhagwan gave protection to all Muslim artists and technicians of film industry staying at Bhindi Bazaar area, near Byculla, Mumbai.
4.       Bhagwan Dada made India’s first horror film Bhedi Bungla in 1949.
5.       Bhagwan Dada was a fan of Hollywood film actor Douglas Fairbank and he used to perform all his stunts on his own without using body double. His stunts were so real that Raj Kapoor used to call him Indian Douglas.
6.       One of the films he directed and produced, he hanged real currency notes on tree to show the money shower!
7.       Bhagwan Dada had his negative warehouse at Goregaon, Mumbai which caught fire and his films made till 1940s got burnt.
8.       Music director C Ramchandra was his friend and he gave the music director his first break.
9.       Due to unavailability of dancers in industry, he made fighters to dance in the famous song, Shola Jo Bhadke in Albela.
10.   Though he had a bungalow at Chembur in Asha Studio campus, he stayed there for just a month as he always preferred to stay in Dadar’s old house till his last breath.

Ekk Albela is directed by Shekhar Sartandel and produced by Monish Babre. It is a Kimaya Motion Pictures Production and presented by Manglmurti Films and releases on 24^th June, 2016.