This engineer-turned-actor used to live in slums, slept empty stomach, made blockbusters with Amitabh Bachchan, Govinda

From Jackie Shroff to Manoj Bajpayee, many Bollywood actors used to live in slums and later rose to fame with their performances in the entertainment industry. Another actor who used to live in slums became an engineer on mother’s advice and later gave several blockbusters in Bollywood. 

The actor we are talking about was also a writer who wrote several films for Amitabh Bachchan, and Rajesh Khanna that turned out to be blockbusters and was discovered by Dilip Kumar at the age of 34. He is none other than Kader Khan. Kader Khan was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, on 22 October 1937 into a Sunni Muslim family. He was raised in the slums of Kamathipura, Mumbai after his family moved there from Kabul. When his parents got divorced, his mother was forced to marry an abusive man. 

He revealed in an interview that his family used to sleep empty stomach three days a week. It was then that he decided to quit films and find work at a local mil like other kids in the slums. However, his mother advised him to complete his education. He said, “My mother had said ‘If you become a daily labourer today, your Rs 3/day will remain the same forever. But remember, if you want to get rid of this poverty, you must educate yourself first.” On his mother’s advice, Kader Khan school and later he graduated from Ismail Yusuf College affiliated with Mumbai University. He even did post-graduation in civil engineering. He then worked as a professor at MH Saboo Siddik College of Engineering, Mumbai. 

Well, after this, the actor was spotted by Dilip Kumar who gave him his first-ever break in Bollywood Khan made his debut with Daag, starring Rajesh Khanna in the main lead role, wherein Khan played the supporting role as an advocate. His career as a film writer began when Narinder Bedi saw the theatre play Khan had written and asked him to co-write the script for Jawani Diwani with Inder Raj Anand, for which he received Rs 1500.

Kader Khan was best known for his comic timing. The actor’s pairing with Govinda was the most bankable one. The duo gave a number of blockbusters like Coolie No. 1, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Aunty No. 1, Saajan Chale Sasural, Anari No. 1, Chhote Sarkar and Raja Babu among others. 

He got his break as the dialogue writer in the film Roti, which starred Rajesh Khanna. The superstar gave him paid him the high amount of Rs 1,21,000 for writing dialogue for the film. Thereafter, he wrote dialogues for many hits starring Rajesh Khanna like films with Rajesh Khanna in the lead like Maha Chor, Chhailla Babu, Dharam Kanta, Fiffty Fiffty, Naya Kadam, and Masterji. Not only this, the actor-writer also shaped the career of Amitabh Bachchan by writing iconic dialogues for him after Salim-Javed parted ways.

He wrote 22 films for Amitabh Bachchan. Some notable examples of these movies are Mr. Natwarlal, Khoon Pasina, Do Aur Do Paanch, Satte Pe Satta, Inquilab, Giraftaar, Hum, and Agneepath, for which Amitabh received the National Film Awards. Kader Khan has worked in over 300 films and has written dialogues for over 250 films. The actor who once struggled to get proper food, became a star in the entertainment industry. He used to live in Mumbai before moving to Toronto. 

Kader Khan had supranuclear palsy, a degenerative disease. He was hospitalized on December 28, 2018, complaining of breathlessness in Canada, where he stayed with his son and daughter-in-law while seeking treatment. On December 31, 2018, Khan's son, Sarfaraz, confirmed that Khan had passed away. His demise sent shockwaves in the film industry.