Bollywood superstar was once a teacher at Shantiniketan, Visva-Bharati University; there, Rabindranath Tagore gave him advice that changed his life

Long before his illustrious career on the silver screen and before he became known as the common man’s hero for iconic hits such as Dharti Ke Lal, Hum Log, Do Bigha Zameen, etc., Balraj Sahni was a teacher at Rabindranath Tagore’s Visva Bharati University in Shantiniketan.

According to an article in Get Bengal, he taught English at Patha Bhavan, Shantiniketan, in the late 1930s, when he left his hometown, Rawalpindi, Punjab, and settled in Bengal. It was during this period he taught English and Hindi at Shantiniketan and also grew closer to Bengal’s Bard Rabindranath Tagore. It was here where their son Parikshit was born when his wife Damayanti was earning her bachelor’s degree. In an interview with ANI, Parikshit revealed Tagore named him.

“My mother decided to give her BA exam at the time when she was expecting me. So Tagore told him (my father), 'You gave your exam, and your child also gave the exam. So you can name him "Parikshit". He was responsible for the name," he said.


Sahni’s link with the Bard of Bengal did not end here. In an interview with The Telegraph, Parikshit revealed the Nobel Prize-winning poet had advised the actor, who was also a gifted writer, to give wings to his literary dreams and write not in Hindi, but in his mother tongue, Punjabi.

According to a report by the Hindu, Sahni asked the bard to compose a global anthem, to which he replied that such a feat had already been accomplished by Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. His anthem reflected the triumph of the living spirit and the dignity of all living beings who dwelled beneath the sky.

He referred to an incident when the Guru was denied entry for an aarti at the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Orissa. Instead of retreating, he stood outside the temple and sang an aarti. Instead of a plate decorated with lighted lamps, he came up with an allegory of the sky as a plate with stars and heavenly bodies – "the sky presents an invocatory platter (Gagan Thaal) that includes all living beings. A sky that holds a variety of jewelled celestial bodies and scented air... the destroyer of fear… The sound of your name is subtle, goes unheard and resounds endlessly.”

Tagore’s last words stayed with Sahni for life: “When you spend your entire life writing in an alien language, neither your own people will accept you as one of them, nor will the people in whose language you have been writing. Before trying to win over outsiders, you should first win over your own people.”

Sahni took the bard’s words to heart and later became a formidable name in Punjabi literature. He authored Mera Pakistani Safarnama in 1960 on a trip to Pakistan. He received the Soviet Land Nehru Award for his book Mera Rusi Safarnama, which he wrote on a visit across the former Soviet Union in 1969.

Sahni also experimented with scripting, penning the 1951 film Baazi, directed by Guru Dutt and starring Dev Anand. In addition, he received the Padma Shri Award in 1969. Additionally, Balraj Sahni wrote in Punjabi and contributed to Preetlari, a Punjabi magazine. He created Delhi's Library and Study Center for the Poor in the 1950s.

Two of Sahni’s biggest hits – Kabuliwala and Do Bigha Zameen – were also adaptations from Tagore’s works. The latter won an international prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

He started his career with the 1946 movie Insaaf but became a household name with the Khwaja Ahmad Abbas directorial Dharti Ke Lal. He formed hit pairings with leading ladies such as Nutan, Meena Kumari, Vyjayanthimala and Nargis in films such as Bindya, Seema (1955), Sone Ki Chidiya (1958), Sutta Bazaar (1959), Bhabhi Ki Chudiyaan (1961), Kathputli (1957), Lajwanti (1958) and Ghar Sansar etc.