QAMYAB – THE FORGOTTEN GEMS OF BOLLYWOOD
Qamyab is our humble tribute to all those lesser-known actors, one hit wonders and junior artists who we see umpteen times but don’t know about; beyond their faces. These actors have been an integral part of Bollywood but didn’t get their due. This series is our sincere attempt to put a name to these faces, familiarize them to our readers and celebrate their achievements in life – however big or small. We believe that every artist contributes in his/her own way to the cinema’s success. Qamyab will explore the unknown lives of such actors and artists as we believe even these forgotten gems of Bollywood deserve their due recognition today.
The topic of nepotism in Bollywood continues to make news. We have spoken about it earlier and even covered a few of these so called nepo-kids, who couldn’t make it big like their parents. In any industry including Hindi films, it is talent which ultimately matters. If nepotism was the ticket to success, then Suneil Anand, Kunal Goswami, Karan Kapoor, Kunal Kapoor, Esha Deol, Sabeeha, Pratibha Sinha, etc would have been superstars of Bollywood.
Today’s forgotten gem and our seventy fifth one in this popular Qamyab series, started his career at a young age of just sixteen years but had to struggle for more than a decade despite being a former actor’s son. He is Anand Balraj, son of well known ’50s actor Balraj Vij, best remembered as Debu from America in Subhash Ghai’s Ram Lakhan (1989).
Many still believe that Anand’s debut movie was Ram Lakhan but before attracting attention in that blockbuster hit, he had worked in blink and miss roles in many Hindi movies. Anand Balraj’s small roles in these films actually got noticed during the post 2000s satellite channel boom when these yesteryear movies regularly played on TV. Anand had played these insignificant roles in his early years while simultaneously modelling for top brands.
Anand Balraj was born on 21st September, 1956 to actor Balraj Vij. Naturally, his childhood was surrounded by filmy background. His house was bang opposite BR House (owned by legendary producer- director B.R. Chopra) on the elitist Juhu Tara road, adjacent to Mumbai’s Juhu Beach.
Anand (or Andy as he’s affectionately called in his friends’ circle) considers B.R. Chopra to be his school of filmmaking as he would be regular at their place since childhood. In fact, Ravi Chopra was his classmate at Sacred Heart School, Santacruz and both spend their young days together.
While in his teens, Andy decided to be an actor and appeared in I.S. Johar’s Aage Barho (1972), which was based on the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war. Anand played a secret agent in this movie. The following year, he was seen in Rajshri Productions lesser-known film Honeymoon (1973). Things were sailing smooth for Anand so far with these two early releases.
In 1973, a film titled Raju Mera Naam was announced with Anand Balraj in the lead but it got abruptly shelved soon after. Post this shelved project, nothing substantial came to Andy apart from small appearances in movies directed by his friend Ravi Chopra.
Anand was seen in Ravi’s debut Zameer (1975) as a dacoit and son of the villain Madan Puri; then again in a small role in Tumhari Kasam (1978) and later, one of the passengers playing guitar in The Burning Train (1980). All these appearances were inconsequential and couldn’t do anything for his acting career.
During these days, Anand Balraj focussed on modelling and became one of the top models of India. He was actually spotted dancing in a Delhi night club by famous choreographer Nazir Mitta, who offered him a dance-oriented fashion show. Anand agreed and he was introduced on the stage in attire of John Travolta as those days, there was a craze of Saturday Night Fever (1977). The fashion show became a turning point in Anand’s life as it had India’s most successful businessman Dhirubhai Ambani as one of the guests, who was impressed with Anand and offered modelling assignment for his brand Only Vimal.
Only Vimal was the biggest fashion brand of that time and nothing could have been bigger than this offer for Anand Balraj. There were already two top models selected for this poster campaign. They were also big names- Deepak Parashar and Kanwaljit Singh and Anand Balraj was the third model to complete the trio. This ad campaign became such big hit that it was the award-winning poster of that year. As per Anand Balraj, he became a favourite of Dhirubhai Ambani after this successful Only Vimal ad. Andy even had the privilege of a lunch with him and struck a friendship with his sons Mukesh and Anil.
During this time, Anand continued trying his luck in Bollywood and went on to appear in movies like Abdullah (1980) and Sahhas (1981). But his biggest break came in the form of main lead in Ravikant Nagaich’s 1982 film Sugandh with the gorgeous Aarti Gupta as his heroine.
Unfortunately, Sugandh vanished faster than the wink of an eye and nobody noticed Anand Balraj. He then appeared as one of Sridevi’s friends in Sadma (1983) in the song ‘Yeh hawa yeh fiza’ at the start of the film. Obviously, no one took note of that appearance.
After Sadma, Anand was seen in two regional films Amma and Africadalli Sheela, both in 1986. But again, these films couldn’t help him build an acting career. A decade had passed since he was part of the movie industry but hardly anyone knew that there is an actor called Anand Balraj.
While Anand’s acting career was a non- starter till now, the modelling world was dancing to his tunes. That time, another handsome hunk called Mahesh entered the world of fashion. He was such a big fan of Anand Balraj that he decided to keep his name as Mahesh Anand. We have already covered this controversial yet talented model turned actor in this series earlier.
Coming to Anand Balraj, Bollywood showman Subhash Ghai spotted him once on the ramp gyrating with eleven girls and asked “Gopiyon ke beech yeh Kanhaniya kaun hai” and instantly, decided to meet him.
After their meeting, Ghai was impressed and asked Anand why does he not try in Hindi films. Soon enough, Ram Lakhan (1989) happened to Andy Balraj. In one of his recent interviews, he revealed that Ghai never looked at Andy as a villain but instead considered him as a dancing personality and that’s why he created a situation in his Ram Lakhan for a competition between him and Anil Kapoor in form of the song ‘Main hoon woh hero’. Ram Lakhan was a blockbuster success and gave recognition to everyone, including Anand Balraj.
Post Ram Lakhan, Andy became a regular in all Subhash Ghai movies (besides other A list productions). His dialogue in Ram Lakhan, “India is Great” became extremely popular. Another line “Money money money” in Sailaab (1990) also caught on in a big way.
The ’90s belonged to Anand Balraj, who along with his fellow colleagues like Mahesh Anand, Dan Dhanoa, Tej Sapru and Mohnish Bahl, would always play sidekicks or spoilt sons of the movie’s main baddie. His other memorable role was in Rajiv Rai’s multistarrer Vishwatma (1992), in which he, Tej and Dan played the Nilu Brothers (or Blue Panther gang).
Apart from negative characters, Anand also played the occasional positive role in movies like Jamai Raja (1990), Bhabhi (1991), Dancer (1991) and Khalnayak (1993). Besides mentor Subhash Ghai, he was also a regular feature in his brother Deepak Balraj’s movies. Anand was cast in pivotal villainous roles in Deepak’s films like Kahan Hai Kanoon (1989), Sailaab (1990), Hafta Bandh (1991), Bomb Blast (1993), Dance Party (1994) and Shirdi Ke Sai Baba (2001).
One of Anand’s characters which caught everyone’s eye was Madan Chikna in Deepak Balraj’s Hafta Bandh (1991). As per Andy, this character became famous from Mohammed Ali Road in Mumbai to Dubai as his fans would recognize him instantly on these streets and shout aloud “Ae Madan Chikna”.
Throughout the ’90s, Anand Balraj was having a decent acting career while also managing his event business. But in the new millennium, he suddenly vanished from Bollywood for almost for a decade. His last known release was Shirdi Ke Sai Baba (2001).
A decade later, Andy returned to acting in the Marathi film Aika Dajiba (2010), which his brother Deepak Balraj made for his wife Kishori Shahane alongside veteran actor Ashok Saraf and Shakti Kapoor in his Marathi debut. The movie couldn’t do wonders at the box office.
Two years later, Anand Balraj ventured in to direction with his comedy drama Daal Mein Kuch Kaala Hai (2012), in which he cast himself as the hero along with the ravishing Pakistani model turned actress Veena Malik as the heroine. He requested his Bollywood friends Salman Khan and Jackie Shroff to appear in this movie. While Salman rejected it saying his special appearances are invariably unlucky for newbie filmmakers, Jackie ended up playing an important part in the movie.
Unfortunately, Daal Mein Kuch Kaala Hai bombed badly at the box office and it is said that Anand Balraj faced heavy losses with its colossal failure. As if this was not enough, fate was going to give him a bigger blow in personal life.
Sometime after the film’s debacle, Anand Balraj met with a major accident at Marine Drive while he was getting out of his car and was rammed by a speeding vehicle, which left him crippled for a short duration. This news was unknown to most industry insiders.
In mid-2014, old friend Aditya Panscholi called Anand casually and found out about his accident. He immediately spoke to Salman Khan, who offered Andy the best doctor who had successfully treated his mother.
Shortly later, a local newspaper carried an article stating that Anand Balraj had turned bankrupt after Daal Mein Kuch Kaala Hai and his medical treatment had emptied his bank account completely. It was only in a recent interview that Andy clarified that he never faced any financial issues but at the same time, admitted that good friend Salman Khan took care of his hospital bills.
Once he was back on his feet, Anand started searching for work again and during the shooting of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015), he met Salman Khan on its sets. They recollected their younger days when Anand would gate crash Salman’s lavish parties and would go to have Biryani at his home or join for drinks with his legendary father Salim Khan.
After recovering from the accident, Anand’s first public appearance was in 2017 at then newly renovated New Excelsior Cinema owned by his mentor Subhash Ghai. He was attending the special Sunday screening of his blockbuster Ram Lakhan (1989) along with its cast and crew.
Anand Balraj made lot of influential friends in Bollywood like Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Aditya Panscholi and even veterans like Rajesh Khanna and Vinod Khanna. It seems he shared a close bonding with Rajesh Khanna and often visited his Carter Road bungalow Ashirwad for drinks. While shooting with Vinod Khanna, he once accompanied him to the Osho Ashram in Pune and stayed there for five to six days.
On the personal front, Anand Balraj was married to air hostess Veena Kaur, who worked for Cathay Pacific airline and they have a daughter together. The couple separated later as Veena couldn’t shift to India due to her work and also encountered visa issues here.
Andy Balraj is nearing 70 years now but looks much younger than his age and continues his event management business. Somewhere in his heart, he still longs for a good role in Bollywood.
Post COVID pandemic, Andy spent a year in Goa and would regularly share his photos and videos chilling out on the beach. He is said to have got the opportunity to settle in America or UK but decided to let it go as life there would be full of loneliness and boredom.
Like his character Debu, Anand also believes that India Is Great!!
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All images courtesy Internet
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