Nirmal Pandey Leaves Bollywood Comfortably Numb

On the 18th of February, 2010 Bollywood bided adieu to a great actor Nirmal Pandey. He was in his mid 40’s when he suffered a heart attack in Mumbai.

Nirmal Pandey was educated at Almora and Nainital, Uttarakhand. He graduated from the National School of Drama. In his early days, he was in London, wherein he was a part of a theatre group Tara. He really had made his mark working in theatre plays as the time he left the group, he had already worked in 125 plays.

When Shekhar Kapur’s highly acclaimed movie Bandit Queen was released with great guns like Seema Biswas, Govind Namdeo and Manoj bajpai a new actor was born. He was Nirmal Pandey. The role that brought him prominence was the role of Vikram Mallah he played in that movie. His acting was spot on and immaculate.

His character and his acting were well appreciated at that point of time. In the movie Nirmal was a dacoit and the leader of the Babu Gujjar gang. Apart from this, Nirmal had worked in many Bollywood films such as Amol Palekar’s Daayra, Train To Pakistan, Is Raat Ki Subah Nahi, Hum Tum Pe Marte Hain, Laila, Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya, One 2 ka 4 and Shikari. Nirmal was not only a part of the Bollywood industry but also played a pivotal role in the television industry. He was seen in several television serials, including Hatim, and Princess Dollie Aur Uska Magic Bag. But the very last project he had undertaken was a Tamil film Kedi wherein he played a villain for the last time.

Nirmal wasn’t just contributing in Bollywood but the talented actor also held the rare distinction of winning an award in the ‘Best Actress’ category when he received the Valenti award in France in 1996 for his turn as a transvestite in Amol Palekar’s ‘Daayraa’. This was something which made him famous and gave him the deserved fame over the years. For his astounding act he got honored and made Bollywood proud.

If you thought this is it, no it ain’t! Nirmal’s another forte was singing. The guy was such a class act but had some well-to-do voice too. Nirmal Pandey had launched his first album called ‘Jazba’ in 2002. Though his album wasn’t successful like his films, but nonetheless it showed that the actor had some serious crooning skills.

Nirmal also has his own acting institute “Fresh Talent Academy” in Ghazaiabad wherein he conducts theatre workshops.

Nirmal Pandey really was an actor of true caliber. His distinctive style of acting and his hideous, villainous expressions were enough for the people to believe that the actor is playing a villain in the movie. Often acted like a psycho but the guy sent blast waves throughout the television industry and Bollywood. The actor hade made a niche of his own with his power packed acting. Nirmal Pandey’s last Bollywood film is Lahore which is slated to release in the month of March.

Nirmal Pandey is survived by his Archana Sharma and his two children. It is rightly said great souls don’t die; it’s just the body that gets screwed up. Truly, Iss Raat Ki Subah Nahin.