Pradeep Kumar was an acclaimed Indian actor who was active in both Hindi as well as Bengali film industries. He was born on 4th January 1925 in West Bengal to an orthodox Brahmin family. At the age of 17, he had decided to take up acting as his career. In spite the disapproval of his father, Pradeep Kumar started acting on stage. Most of his films were successful at the box office. In the year 1999 he was honoured with the Kalakar Award-Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions in the film industry.

Career of Pradeep Kumar
Pradeep Kumar stepped into the arena of Indian cinema through Bengali films. During one of his stage performances he was spotted by renowned filmmaker Debaki Bose who cast him in the Bengali film Krishna Leela. Notable Bengali films in which he had starred include Alaknanda in 1947 and 42 in 1951. He also collaborated with Pashupati Chatterjee for the movie Swami in 1949. Later Pradeep Kumar shifted to Mumbai and found a job at Filmistan studios. In the year 1952, he essayed an important role in the movie Anand Math for which he extensively brushed up his Hindi and Urdu skills. Pradeep Kumar appeared in the lead role alongside Bina Rai in the 1953 film Anarkali. In the following year he starred in Nagin opposite Vyjanthimala. Both these films added to the fame of Pradeep Kumar and the enchanting music greatly contributed to their success. In the second half of 1950s, Pradeep Kumar starred in a number of flicks. However in the following decade, 1960s, he did not enjoy much success besides a few films like Aarti, Taj Mahal and Ghoonghat which rendered success to the actor.

Pradeep Kumar shared the screen with Meena Kumari in seven films including Noorjehan, Aarti, Bheegi Raat, Bahu Begum, Chitralekha, Bandhan and Adil-E-Jahangir and worked with Mala Sinha in eight films titled Mitti Mein Sona, Duniya Na Maane, Ek Shola, Fashion, Detective, Baadshah, Hamlet and Naya Zamana. He acted with many other lead actresses of Bollywood namely Sharmila Tagore, Babita, Saira Banu, Sadhana, Asha Parekh and Waheeda Rehman. In the year 1969, he shifted to character roles with flicks like Mehboob Ki Mehndi, Sambandh, Jaanwar and Razia Sultan.

Death of Pradeep Kumar
Pradeep Kumar died on 27th October 2001 in Kolkata, at the age of 76. He is survived by his daughters namely Reena, Meena and Beena Banerjee and son Debiprasad.