Biography of Sohrab Modi

(November 2, 1897 - January 28, 1984)

Sohrab Modi was born in 1897 in Mumbai in a Parsi family. Sohrab Modi spent his childhood in Rampur, U.P. After a successful stint in theatres, Modi started his own banner in the year 1936 called Minerva Movie tone. His film, the quasi-historical, ‘Pukar’, released in 1939, was a superhit.

In the 1941 film "Sikandar, Modi in the role of the proud Indian King Puru was greatly appreciated, especially for his incredible dialogue delivery. He also made films with themes of illicit passion as in the films – ‘Bharosa', Jailor' and ‘Prithvi Vallabh'.

Sohrab Modi's most ambitious historical film was ‘Jhansi Ki Rani', with ‘Mehtaab’ in the title role. In the next year, Modi returned with the film ‘Mirza Ghalib', which went on to win the President's, Gold Medal. Even at the age of 86, Modi launched a film 'Guru Dakshina' but it could not be completed as Sohrab Modi was diagnosed having cancer. He died in the year 1984.