Dan Dhanoa

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.

Not all handsome dudes turn out as heroes like Dharmendra and Vinod Khanna did!! Some end up playing the villain as well. Classic examples of good-looking Bollywood villains are Shakti Kapoor, Ranjeet, Gulshan Grover, Danny Denzongpa, Yusuf Khan (Zibesko), Mahesh Anand, etc. Some of these guys started out as heroes initially but became famous villains later like Shakti Kapoor in Zakhmee Insaan (1982) and Mahesh Anand in Sasti Dulhan Mahenga Dulha (1986).

One such handsome actor who became a well-known villain of the ’80s and ’90s Bollywood was Dan Dhanoa. Dan belonged to a respected family in Punjab known to serve the country. Always smart and dashing in looks with blue eyes and a great physique, Dan Dhanoa was born on 28 February 1959 as Indrapreet Singh Dhanoa in Jalandhar to Major General Dr. Sardar Singh Dhanoa and Capt. Dr Paramjit Kaur Dhanoa who served as doctors in the Indian Army.

In his childhood, Dan was sent to the prestigious Doon school (Dehradun) and his parents wanted him to serve the nation like them. At an early age, he successfully completed his cadetship of Merchant Navy but there were no significant jobs available at that time. This is when he decided to take up modelling assignments. The very first advertisement he featured in was Elpar Suitings. More assignments followed suit and Dan modelled for more than forty brands.

In 1980, Feroze Khan gave the biggest hit of his career – Qurbani. At its the silver jubilee function, the ‘Cowboy’ Khan came across Dan Dhanoa and impressed with his looks, decided to launch him in his next film titled Janbaaz. He also asked him to change his name from Indrapreet to Dan.

Unfortunately, Janbaaz was shelved until later Feroze Khan revived the project again with a different plot and cast (Janbaaz 1986) but this new screenplay had no role for Dan. It was then the legendary director Manmohan Desai who was making Mard (1985), decided to cast Dan as the main villain called Danny Dyer who played the evil son of veteran actor Kamal Kapoor in the film. Dan Dhanoa made a striking entry in the film riding a horse and his iconic introduction “General Dyer ka beta Danny” became very popular. Dhanoa managed to make his presence felt in Mard even with a plethora of villains like Prem Chopra, Kamal Kapoor, Manek Irani, Goga Kapoor and Bob Christo forming part of the cast. After the success of Mard, there was no looking back for Dan and he went on to sign many films where he always played the villain or the sidekick.

Some of his notable films include Jaan Ki Baazi (1985), Dahleez (1986), Karma (1986), Dacait (1987), Watan Ke Rakhwale (1987), Awam (1987), Shahenshah (1988), Zalzala (1988), Laal Dupatta Malmal Ka (1989), Gola Barood (1989), Tridev (1989), Toofan (1989), Paap Ki Kamaee (1990), Izzat (1990), Phool Aur Kaante (1990), Trinetra (1991), Sanam Bewaffa (1991), Vishwatma (1992), Deedar (1992,), Virodhi (1992), Tahalka (1992), Lootere (1993), Chauraha (1994), Ajay (1996), etc.

Dan was very much active from mid ’80s to mid ’90s and always a known face in big films where he invariably played the negative character. Subhash Ghai’s Karma (1986) remains a rare instance where he had a positive role of a prisoner of war lodged in the jail of the main baddie Dr Dang (Anupam Kher) and in the climax, saves the life of heroine Sridevi.

In the mid ’90s, Dan Dhanoa decided to quit films as he was getting monotonous roles which were not exciting him at all. Over his decade long career, Dan worked with all the top heroes like Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna, Jeetendra, Dharmendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Shatrughan Sinha, Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn.

Dan Dhanoa’s last release was Dharma Karma released in 1997. After this, he decided to make use of his cadetship and joined the Indian Merchant Navy around the year 2000 and made an illustrious career as the Merchant Navy officer shuffling globally on duty.

Dan was once married to Nikki Walia (not to be confused with the television actress) but she appeared in a few Hindi films like Cobra (1980), Karate (1983) and more famously in Kaalia (1981) as the rich lady who dances with Amitabh Bachchan and Amjad Khan in the song ‘Jahan teri yeh nazar hai’. Together, they have a son Gobind Singh Dhanoa (Tarzan) who is an upcoming actor and director.

In 2007, Dan Dhanoa found love again with the famous television actress Nandita Puri. Apart from acting, Nandita is also a professional Kathak dancer and has performed in various stage shows. On Television front, she has acted in popular serials like Byomkesh Bakshi (1993), Campus (1995), Kareena Kareena (2004), Maayka (2007) and many more.

Dan Dhanoa, now a full-time sailor, currently balances his personal and professional life far away from the limelight of Bollywood. He recently faced the camera again for the Tamil film Soorarai Pottru (2020) which was his comeback to acting after twenty-three years. He played a negative character loosely based on the fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya in it. Dan Dhanoa does give interviews to certain media publications but generally prefers to stay away from the limelight. We wish him all the very best in his future endeavours.