kulbhushan Kharbanda Biography

kulbhushan Kharbanda is a very talented and versatile character actor in the Bollywood. He is best remembered as the bad man Shakaal from the film 'Shaan'. Kharbanda has acted in numerous Hindi and Punjabi films till date. It has been said that the character of Shakaal was inspired from the character of Blofeld from the famous James Bond films. This talented actor was born on 21st October 1944 in Hassanabdal , Attock District, British India (now in Pakistan). The place is famous for the historic Gurdwara Panja Sahib. Kharbanda's family migrated to India after 1947 India-Pakistan partition. The elderly actor finished his early school education from Jodhpur , Aligarh , Delhi and Dehradoon. Kharbanda has completed his graduation from Karorimal College in Delhi University. He is married to Maheshwari Devi Kharbanda and they have a daughter named Shruti Kharbanda.

After completing his studies, Kharbanda along with his some college friends formed a theater group named 'Abhyaan' and after that he joined 'Yatrik' a Delhi based theater repertory which was founded by famous director Joy Michael in the year 1964. Kharbanda became the first paid artist of that. But after few years, 'Yatrik' collapsed due to absence of the director in India. After his, Kharbanda went to Kolkata and joined the 'Padatik' theater group there. He did some Hindi plays directed by Shyamanand Jalanin in 1972. Until shifting to Mumbai, he worked at Kolkata.

Kharbanda ventured into films in 1974 with Sai Paranjape's film 'Jadu Ka Shankh'. At first, he used to appear in parallel films but later he focused on the mainstream Bollywood cinema. Kharbanda got his breakthrough with Shyam Benegal's film 'Nishant' in 1974. With Shyam Benegal he teamed up for many films like 'Manthan' ,'Bhumika' ,'Junoon' ,'Kalyug' etc.

He played the famous bald villain Shakaal in Ramesh Sippy's 1980 blockbuster 'Shaan'. Later he appeared in many hit films like 'Ghayal' ,'Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar' ,'Gupt' ,'Border' ,'Yes Boss' ,'Refugee' , 'Jodha Akbar' ,'Lagaan' and many more. He has appeared with some of the talented actors like Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Girish Karnad , Hema Malini in the art films namely, 'Chakra' ,'Arth' , 'Andhi Gali' ,'Ek Chadar Maili Si' ,'Utsav' ,'Mandi' ,'Trikal' ,'Susman', 'Naseem' and 'Monsoon Wedding'. He has acted in Deepa Mehta's all six movies and also in her trilogy '1947 Earth', 'Fire' and 'Water'. The senior actor also has appeared in Punjabi and a German film.

The actor who was recently seen in the films like 'Khatta Meetha' ,'Kurbaan' ,'Aloo Chaat' and 'Delhi In A Day' has also appeared in the TV serials like 'Shanno Ki Shaadi' and 'Mahi Ve'.