K Amarnath

Early life

Amarnath Gelaram Khetarpal was born in Mianwali, Punjab, British India. He spent his childhood in Mianwali and college years in Lahore. Inspired by Hollywood and British movies, Amarnath left home at a young age of 18 to join the film industry to become an actor.

Career

Initially K.Amarnath worked as a character/stunt actor for 4 years, first in Calcutta and then in Mumbai.

Realising K.Amarnath's great passion and knowledge of movie-making, Ramaniklal & Mohanlal Shah, founders of Mohan Studios, Mumbai, gave him his first big break when they offered him the opportunity to direct "Matwali Jogan" in 1936.

In 1936, K.Amarnath was only 22 years old when he directed his first movie.

He also directed 4 Tamil movies for Mohan Studios; and one of them, "Minnalkodi" - 1937 was a big hit.

K.Amarnath produced/directed more than 30 movies.

From 1936 to 1953, he produced/directed 22 Hindi & Tamil movies within a span of 17 years.

In 1953, K.Amarnath created his own production company, "K.Amarnath Productions" with "Alif-Laila" and produced and directed about 11 Hindi movies till 1971.

His office was located at Ranjit Studios, Dadar, Mumbai.

K.Amarnath was a very versatile man. He not only produced and directed movies, but also wrote the story & screenplay of many of his movies. Over the course of his career, the genres of the movies he directed ranged from action/suspense thrillers to family/social drama, legendary romantic tragedies, semi-musicals, costume drama to magical/fantasy movies. (See Filmography below).

Many well-known artistes and music directors, worked in movies produced/directed by K.Amarnath. Some of them were - Ajit, Jayant (father of Amjad Khan), Murad, Pran (actor), Yakub, Gope, Mukri, Sajjan, Kishore Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Joy Mukherjee, Sanjay Khan, Bharat Bhushan, Mehmood, Madhubala, Geeta Bali, Meena Kumari, Vyjayantimala, Nutan, Nimmi, Nalini Jaywant, Nanda, Nigar Sultana, Noor Jehan, Kum Kum, Kamini Kaushal, Shakila, Helen, Cuckoo, Indurani and also K.T.Rukmini & B.Shrinavasa Rao in the Tamil movies directed by him. Some of the music directors who gave their most memorable music in his movies were Nashad, Chitragupta (composer), O.P.Nayyar, Shyam Sundar, Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Ghulam Mohammed, Sardar Malik, and the brothers, Pt.Amarnath, Husnlal & Bhagatram.

Ajit (Ajit Khan) acted as a hero in 7 of the movies directed by K.Amarnath – Beqasoor, Meharbani, Sarkaar, Bara-Dari, Bada Bhai, Baraat and Kabli Khan. In fact it was K.Amarnath who had suggested that he change his long name of "Hamid Ali Khan" to a shorter name. The first movie with his name changed to Ajit was "Beqasoor" -1950.

Shyam Sundar composed many unforgettable melodious songs in 3 of the hit movies directed by K.Amarnath – "Gaon ki Gori"- 1945, "Bazaar" - 1949 and "Alif-Laila" 1953.

Mohammed Rafi always "considered" the song "aji dil ho kaaboo mein to dildaar ki aisi taisi" with G. M. Durrani and chorus in "Gaon ki Gori" to be his first Hindi Film Song.

Noor Jehan was the heroine of 2 of the movies directed by K.Amarnath – “Gaon ki Gori “– 1945 and “Mirza Sahiban” – 1947. Both of them were super hits. Mirza Sahiban was her last movie in India before she moved to Pakistan.

K.Amarnath was well known for promoting aspiring young individuals. He introduced Salim Khan to the movies. (Salim of Salim-Javed fame and father of Bollywood superstar, Salman Khan).

The first movie Salim acted in was K.Amarnath’s " Baraat" – 1960.

Helen (actress) got her first break as a main/solo dancer in K. Amarnath's "Alif-Laila" - 1953.

Also, Minoo Mumtaz, sister of the famous Bollywood comedian Mehmood, made her film debut in K.Amarnath’s "Bara-Dari" - 1955.

Three of the Hindi movies directed by K.Amarnath: Village Girl-Gaon Ki Gori - 1945 Mirza Sahibaan - 1947 and Bara-Dari - 1955 (List of Bollywood films of 1955) were among the top-grossing films of those years.

Family

K.Amarnath lived in Shivaji Park, Mumbai, was married and had 4 children – 2 sons and 2 daughters.