Colin Pal

Who was Colin Pal?

Colin Pal was a Hindi film actor, technician, journalist, and PRO for 175 Hindi films. The grandson of freedom fighter Bipin Chandra Pal, he was born into the film world as his father, Niranjan Pal was already a top producer since 1913.

Colin joined Filmistan Studios in May 1943 as an apprentice after working alongside his father at Bombay Talkies. He swiftly rose to become the assistant director to P.L. Santoshi. While working with Filmistan he also acted as Netaji Subashchandra Bose in Samaadhi in 1949. In 1951 he appeared in Bimal Roy's Parineeta and Naukri. He also directed Shrimatijee, Naina and Suhag Sindoor for Munshi productions.

He was also associated with Junglee, Ganga Jamuna and Mughal-e-Azam.

He authored the book Shooting Stars which described the eccentricities of the cinema process. His autobiography "Aye Jibon: Such is life" won a National Award from the Indian Government in 2001. Colin died, on August 28, 2005, after a prolonged illness, in Mumbai, at the age of 83.