This 1950s superstar owned a 25-room bungalow, seven imported cars; died in a chawl: ‘I was a mazdoor millionaire, it was god's way of punishing me'

Indian Express

a day ago

The Indian film industry was quite disorganised back in the 1950s. While stars and filmmakers had started making good money, they weren't educated in how to manage their finances. In the early 1950s, Hindi movies saw the birth of a new star, Bhagwan Dada, who appeared in the hit film Albela with Geeta Bali. The film had hit songs like 'Shola Jo Bhadke,' 'Bholi Surat Dil Ke Khote,' among others. But his success was short-lived, as in a matter of few years, he lost it all. In his last days, Bhagwan Dada lived in a single-room in a chawl and struggled to make ends meet.
In an interview with The Illustrated Weekly of India, he said that after the success of Albela, he 'became a lakhpati.' 'I owned a studio, I bought seven imported cars for each day of the week. I had a 25-room bungalow at Juhu in my possession,' he said proudly, but immediately added that god punished him for his vices and took it all away. 'I became a sharabi kababi, gambled at cards and the race course. Drinks and women were my weakness. I was unfaithful to my wife . The truth is, I had ignored my family. Maybe it was god's way of punishing me. From a mazdoor millionaire, I became a pauper,' he said.
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Bhagwan had a modest childhood growing up in a small town of Maharashtra with his father working in a textile mill. He started working in silent movies as a junior artiste. Gradually, he landed bigger jobs in film production, and in a matter of few years, he found himself producing small films. In a bid to be more independent, he started directing and acting in those films as well. It was during this phase that he once slapped Lalita Pawar during a scene, and caused her vein to burst which gave her facial paralysis. He also found some friends in the likes of Raj Kapoor, who advised him to make a romantic musical. Bhagwan took that advice seriously and made Albela with Geeta Bali.
Albela's success changed his life for the better, but things began slipping rapidly. Bhagwan produced many films after Albela, but none of them worked. To add to his misery, he was cheated by his business partners and lost all his money. He believed that he could have survived by just selling the rights to Albela, and said, 'Who knows whom the rights of Albela or any of my films belong to? Bas khel khatam, paisa hazam.'
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But even after he started living in a chawl, Bhagwan continued to accept smaller roles in films as he needed the money to survive. 'To keep this house going, I continue to accept every role, even if it's one scene. My only request to the producers is to send me transport, a taxi will do. I'm exhausted at the end of the shooting. I return home, drink my navtaak (quart) and go to sleep. Whatever food is served at the studio, I have,' he said.
Raj Kapoor and Ashok Kumar kept checking in on him until they were alive, and Dilip Kumar would often take him for a drive, but Bhagwan had enough self respect to never accept any kind monetary help from any of his film colleagues. 'I haven't asked for monetary help from any of the film industry's welfare associations. I'm too proud to do that,' he said.
Bhagwan died in 2002 at age 88 in the same one-room house in Dadar. 'It would have been good to go in a Chevrolet but rehne do, how will I know what's happening when I'm no more. No one cares,' he said. In 2016, director Shekhar Sartandel made the Marathi film Ekk Albela, the biopic of the actor, starring Mangesh Desai. Vidya Balan played a cameo in the film as Geeta Bali.