Remembering legendary bollywood actor Pran on his 5th death anniversary.

Pran Krishan Sikand, or simply Pran, was one of Hindi cinema's iconic actors who played villain and character roles with elan. Pran will be forever remembered for bringing villains on par with the heroes, ruling the industry from 1969 to 1982. He commanded equal respect for his negative characters in 'Madhumati', 'Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai', 'Ram Aur Shyam' and 'Devdas'.

Amitabh Bachchan receives trophy from Pran

At the height of his career, Pran often commanded screen space equivalent to that of the film's leading actor.

Whether it was opposite the great Dilip Kumar, the stylish Dev Anand, the energetic Shammi Kapoor, the crazy Kishore Kumar, the dapper Shashi Kapoor, the intense Manoj Kumar, the romantic Rajesh Khanna or the volcanic Amitabh Bachchan, Pran always made his presence felt, no matter what role he played.

Interestingly enough, Pran had never wanted to be an actor. The good-looking young man was actually keen on becoming a photographer. A chance meeting with writer Wali Mohammed Wali at a paan shop in Lahore in undivided India landed him a role in the Punjabi film Yamla Jat in 1940. He played the bad guy. And thus a legend was born.

Pran moved to Bombay after Partition and after a brief struggle bagged a role in Shaheed Latif's Ziddi (1948), which starred the struggling actor Dev Anand and rising star Kamini Kaushal. The film was a hit and, within a week of its release, Pran signed three more films. And, as the cliché goes, there was no looking back.

As the years passed, Pran thought it best to shed the villain's mask and began taking up positive roles.