Rakesh Pandey

Rakesh Pandey born in Himachal Pradesh was once a very handsome looking actor of Bhojpuri cinema. A Younger generation remembers him for playing the role of Ayub Khan’s father in “Dil Chahta Hai.” He was the most famous actor of Bhojpuri cinema along with Sujit Kumar and Padma Khanna.

He also acted as the main lead in many Hindi movies like Sara Akash (which was based on Rajendra Yadav novel and directed by Basu Chatterjee) Anokha Daan, Rakhwala and as a character artist in  ‘Woh Main Nahin’, ‘Abdullah’,’ Zindagi Aur Toofan’ but the role for which he was most recognizable was of ‘Prakash’ the generous friend of Amitabh in the Movie “Manzil” (Rimjhim Gire Sawan was the hit song of this movie.)

In his heydays, he was a very popular actor, and his looks were dashing. His span in Hindi movie was short lived as he was in the era of Amitabh Bachchan and there was no scope for soft actors like him. Many other actors like Navin Nishchal, Vijay Arora, Anil Dhawan were also a victim of that era.

But he was quick to analyze the situation and started doing regional movies and became the superstar of Bhojpuri cinema. His pairing with Padma Khana was an instant hit and together they gave many blockbusters. These days due to his old age, he has stopped working in cinemas, but the roles he has played are always in the mind of audiences.