Bhagwan Dada was the first dancing superstar of Indian cinema. He had rhythm and music embedded deep within him. He originated a particular style of dancing. That tender sway of the hip, the naughty look of an infant, and the candor of a star – he possessed it all. He had swag before swag got swag! His signature dance moves soon became a sensation. He was among the few male stars to break into an inner elite circle of actors/dancers, which was dominated by women. Many actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Govinda, Mithun Chakraborty, and Rishi Kapoor are known to have drawn inspiration from him.
He entered the world of cinema through silent films. His first film of notable significance was called Criminal. He steadily infused himself into the art of directing and made his directorial debut with the film Bahadur Kisan. He co-directed it with Chandrarao in 1938.
One of Bhagwan Dada’s greatest works was a social film called Albela. The film featured Bhagwan Dada and Geeta Bali and the music was composed by C. Ramchandra. It is said that C. Ramachandra and Bhagwan Dada were discussing the film at a Churchgate restaurant in Mumbai and C. Ramachandra promised Bhagwan Dada to compose the music for the film, “for the love of it.”
He was perhaps the first to introduce Ramba, Samba, Disco, rock-n-roll and other dance forms to Hindi cinema, the first male star to do so in the industry ruled by female dancers. Bhagwan Dada as he was popularly called, created a new grammar of comedy, through the unique style of acting and dancing, which inspired a whole generation of comedians in the Hindi cinema.
Bhagwan Abhaji Palav popularly known as Bhagwan Dada was born on 1st Aug 1913 and died on 4th February 2002 was a popular comedian of Bollywood of the Golden Era. He is best known for his social film Albela (1951) and the song "Shola Jo Bhadke".A veteran actor of about 600 films in the course of more than five decades.
He produced many films after ALBELA but most of his films flopped, His film "Sahme Hue Sapney" didn’t survive beyond the first show. Then he suffered a heavy loss while making "Hanste Rehna" with Kishore Kumar. He had invested his own money, pawned his wife’s jewellery and withdrawn all his life’s savings. But halfway through, Kishore started dilly-dallying and "behaving crazily" and the project had to be shelved.
. He later took up small roles in multiple films, some of which were lost in obscurity. Unfortunately, his quest for success in films took a toll on his life and he lost all his wealth and ended up living in a chawl in Dadar, Mumbai.
He died of a heart attack on 4th Feb 2002. He was 89 years old.
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