Kader Khan (22 October 1937 – 31 December 2018) was an Indian actor, screenwriter, comedian, and film director. After making his debut in the 1973 film Daag, starring Rajesh Khanna, he appeared in over 300 Bollywood films as an actor.
Early Life and Career
Kader Khan was born on 22 October 1937, in Kabul, Afghanistan. He went to a local school and then Ismail Yusuf College, where he graduated with a degree in Engineering. Between 1970 and 1975, he taught at M. H. Saboo Siddik College of Engineering in Byculla as a professor of civil engineering. He was noticed by comedian Agha while performing in Taash Ke Patey, who told actor Dilip Kumar to check it out. As a result, he was signed up for Dilip Kumar’s next two films, Sagina and Bairaag. He used to write plays for theatres, and he got offered to write Jawani Diwani, which started his script writing career.
He got 1500 rupees for co-writing the script for Jawani Diwani with Inder Raj Anand.
His acting career spanned over 300 Hindi and Urdu films, and he wrote dialogue for more than 250 films. In 1974, Manmohan Desai paid him 121,000 rupees to write dialogue for the film Roti (1974), produced by Rajesh Khanna.
He is most popularly recognized for working with famous actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Feroz Khan, Govinda, etc and in films by David Dhawan. In addition to playing a lot of supporting roles, he’s also starred in a lot of comedy shows.
He wrote dialogues for super hit movies like Sharaabi, Coolie, Lawaaris, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar and Amar Akbar Anthony, and has worked with many famous directors and actors. He also wrote screenplays for films starring Amitabh Bachchan like Agneepath and Naseeb. He died on 31 December 2018 in Toronto, Canada.
Awards
He won the Filmfare Best Comedian Award for ‘Baap Numbri Beta Dus Numbri’ in 1991. He was nominated nine times for Filmfare Best Comedian Award from 1984 to 1999. Kader Khan was posthumously awarded the Padma Shri on 26 January 2019. His achievements and service to the Muslim community in India were recognized by AFMI (American Federation of Muslims from India).
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