Not many are aware of Motilal the legend, but he was a very big name in his own time. Born on 1910, his final stage of life is very much the same as the climax of any Hindi film. The man who started as a very big star and also worked as a supporting actor, died penniless!

It won't be an exaggeration if we say that he didn't act in any of his films, he lived the character. Acting for him meant merging his soul with that of the character he played.

Long before Balraj Sahni, Motilal, in the thirties and forties, pioneered the shift from the theatricality of the Saigals and the Surendras and the high voltage dramatics of the Sohrab Modis and the Prithviraj Kapoors with his naturalistic, uncluttered, easy acting style. The aesthete in him was reflected in his choice of films and his acting style.

For his second film, The Silver King (1935), Motilal took pains to learn the art of fencing for his action scenes. In his earlier stage, he was associated with Sagar Studios who mostly turned out formula stuff. Though the formula films did not want such dedication, Motilal use to give his 100% to each and every film.

Soon, Motilal become a star because of the social melodramas he starred in like Shaher Ki Ladki (1934), Dr. Madhurika and Kulvadhu and many more. Sarojini Naidu attended his wedding in 1936. His personal life took a turbulent turn when he broke off with his wife and started a relationship with actress Shobhna Samarth.

He worked with almost the best of the directors. He did films like Jagirdar, Hum Tum Aur Who and Taqdeer for Mehboob Khan. He also turned in remarkably intelligent and moving performance as the abductor who is reformed by love. Later in his career, he started playing character roles.

Though he has played several memorable characters in many films, his character of Chunnibabu in Bimal Roy's Devdas (in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai, Jackie Shroff is playing this character) is remembered by one and all.

Even his drunkard character in Raj Kapoor's Jagte Raho (1956) was very well appreciated by one and all. This bald pated actor lived life in the fast lane. He enjoyed drinks, gambling and races. He lost all his money at the races in the fifties and this was the beginning of his decline.

He even rendered two stunning performances as a villain in Anari and Paighaam (1959). Even though he had very little money left, he started his own film, the offbeat Chhoti Chhoti Baatein, where he once again stunned all with his acting prowess as a middle-aged, potbellied man, who finds his married life torn when he meets his soul mate. The film got completed but Motilal was no more by then.

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