Films Bio

7th February Manohar Deepak Was Born Sunam Punjab

manohar deepak साठी प्रतिमाप्रतिमांची तक्रार नोंदवा
manohar deepak साठी अधिक प्रतिमा

Manohar Deepak :


	Name : Manohar DeepakBirthday : ...................... Hometown : Sunam, Punjab Height :

	Manohar Deepak is known as founder and father of Modern Stage Bhangra. Born in Sunam Udham Singh Wala (Punjab) India, he moved to Mumbai where he Acted in number of movies. He was married to actressMadhumati.Filmography H

Manohar Deepak some time after the late '50s, when he started a film career in Bombay. I believe his first non-bhangra film came out in 1960. His body position and maybe the ghungroos suggest he may have brought a quasi bhangra style to Bombay film.

Deepak brothers with Indira Gandhi (who I assume was just hanging out at the time as assistant to her dad, Prime Minister Nehru). The ghungroos on the shoulder would almost seem to symbolize their dance.

Madhumati, Sunil Dutt and Manohar Deepak

Madhumati with her late husband, Manohar Deepak, the inspiration and motivator of the academy

Madhumati with sister and contemporary actress of the yore years, Vaishali

Madhumati with the first Prime Minister of Independendent India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

And here is one more of Manohar, scanned from Alka Pande's book (by T. Dhanoa). This would have been taken after 1959, at least I think -- when he shaved his daarhi.

The three Deepak brothers: Manohar, Gurbachan, Avtar.

PEPSU troupe group shot. Presumably 1954.

This, in a way, is my example to end the 1950s era -- even though
the Punjabi film, Khedan de Din Char, came out in 1962.

It features Manohar Deepak (co-director), who had started his
film career in Bombay by this point (note the cameo by Raj Kapoor).
I don't know if any of the rest of the PEPSU troupe joined him. One
of the dholis looks traditional -- the skinnier guy! I can't say who
the chubby dholi is (maybe he was just faking playing?)! The
skinny guy is not Bhana Ram. He ceased playing with the
PEPSU troupe ca1957/58, I believe, which is also when
Deepak stopped doing the Republic Day thing.

The dancing looks like a kind of poor imitation of the PEPSU style,
in my opinion -- as if bhangra was all about jerking shoulders
madly. And it's too routine -- filmi formations.

Here, Manohar is clean shaven (his Bollywood image). Turbans
have changed by this point from the shamle-wali kind (two
thingies hanging down) to a turla style. But it's not today's turla
style, it's more of a natural style...kinda resembles Pathan style.

Madam Madhumati's inspirational work from the yesteryear

	Madam Madhumati is a renowned Actress and Dancer of Hindi Films of the yore years. She has worked in over Eleven Hundred (1100) films in 25 Years. Madhumati Acting Academy has been functional since last 30 years. In her entire career, she worked with stalwarts of the film Industry and the greatest stars of her times likeShammi kapoor, Dharmendra, Raj Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Pran, Balraj Sahney, etc. She is a contemporary of Helen, but this nimble footed dancer created a unique place for herself, not just because of her dance but because of her potential as an actress as well. Her Helen-like looks stick on to your eyes, until you flicker your lashes once again to greet the famous actress of the yesteryears.

There is some very sad news in the world of Bhangra. When we speak of Bhangra today we obviously refer to the form we see on stage (that we`ve come to term "stagi" Bhangra) since the Bhangra of the melas and open fields no longer exists.
There were a few men, who I`ve mentioned in earlier posts that were responsible for Bhangra coming to stage. This group existed of a core group of roughly six men and many baazigars. Chaman Lal Rana helped to organize the earliest performances of Bhangra on stage. The baazigars were from Sunam and they were the ones who added stunts and acrobatics to Bhangra when it came on stage (this occured in the 1950`s). Of the Baazigars, the Dholi, Ustad Paana Ram had passed away a few years ago as did 4 of the Baazigars, one more passed away this past year.
The other men were the Deepak brothers who migrated to Sunam after 1947. The eldest, Gurbachan Deepak passed away earlier. Avtar Deepak still lives in Chandigargh. The youngest, Manohar Deepak was considered the leader of the group since he had a lot of charisma, stage presense and dance ability. The group was responisble for Bhangra being a part of republic day celebrations in Delhi as well as Bhangra coming into the Bombay film industry. Manohar Deepak performed Bhangra in many Hindi movies. Manohar Deepak passed away in December. May his soul rest in peace.
Along with the Deepak Brothers, Balbir Sekhon was an essential element of the group. He was known for always carrying a khunda with him when he danced and if you see old pictures of Bhangra, he almost always has a khunda in his hand. I had seen him a year ago and although well into this late 70`s or early 80`s he still went to judge Bhangra competitions. He said that he had helped bring Bhangra to the stage and still enjoyed performing and that he wanted to breath his last doing so. He got his wish. Sardar Balbir Singh Sekhon passed away two months ago as well. He was judging a Bhangra competition and was asked to perform for the audience. He died doing so. May his soul rest in peace.
I remember asking Sekhon Sahib if their team had a name. I will never forget his reply. He looked me in the eye and said "we would only need a name if their was another team". Ladies and gentlemen, this was THE Bhangra Team. He also told me the story, which is very popular, of Nargis, the famous Hindi fim acctress of the time, seeing these men perform Bhangra. When they were finished she went to them and said "this is the first time I have seen men dance like men". Let us all strive to dance like these men...
Teginder Singh Dhanoa, MD
President and co-founder
Punjabi Lok Virsa (TM)
"Promoting the Folk Traditions of Punjab" (TM)