Yakub Mehboob Khan, known as Yakub, was an Indian Hindi film actor born into a Pathan family in 1904 in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. He died in 1958 after a career spanning thirty years in the film industry. He is best known for his comedic villainous roles. He commenced his career as an extra, but soon did roles as a hero and later as a villain. He became one of the most renowned screen villains, while achieving equal success in comedy and character roles. Yakub appeared in over 100 films.
Early life
Yakub ran away from home at an early age, and did odd jobs such as a motor mechanic and table waiter before joining the ship "S. S. Madura" as a kitchen worker. He left the ship after travelling to various places, like London, Brussels and Paris, then returned to Calcutta where he worked as a tourist guide, among other jobs. He finally came to Bombay now Mumbai, around 1924 and joined the Sharda Film Company.
Career
During his travels, Yakub watched the films of Hollywood actors, and became greatly influenced by Eddie Polo, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Wallace Beery and later by Humphrey Bogart. Yakub's first film was Bhalji Pendharkar's silent Bajirao Mastani, which also starred Master Vithal. It was produced by the Sharda Film Company. His first talkie was Meri Jaan, with Sagar Movietone and directed by Prafulla Ghosh, where he played the title role of the Prince. This film has also been credited as Romantic Prince. The film had Master Vithal, Mehboob Khan and Zubeida co-starring in it. His enactment of the role of an angry resentful son in Mehboob Khan's Aurat made him popular to the extent that his acting in this film is considered as one of the finest performances in the Indian Cinema. The role was later performed by Sunil Dutt in Mehboob Khan's famous remake of his own film with the new title Mother India. Yakub's popularity in those days can be gauged by the credit roll of films such as the S K Ojha directed Hulchul, which had a star cast of Dilip Kumar, Nargis and Sitara Devi, where his name was credited as '…and your favourite, Yakub'. Yakub was an "acknowledged master of comedy" along with other actors such as Johnny Walker, Gope and Agha, but their vast talent was unused, which was a "gross injustice", according to the B. K. Karanjia co-edited book; Genres of Indian Cinema. His comic pairing with Gope and Agha was well liked by the audiences, and this caused the film-makers to use their combination in several films. Prominent of such films were Sagai, Patanga and Beqasoor with Yakub and Gope. Yakub, Prithviraj Kapoor and Chandra Mohan were in the highest pay bracket of their times. The triumvirate of Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor, who held reign in the Indian film industry from the late 1940s to the end of 1970s, has been compared to Chandra Mohan, Yakub and Shyam, who were at the top of the acting roster from 1930 to early 1950.
Director
Yakub directed three films; Sagar Ka Sher and Uski Tamanna in the 1930s, and Aiye in 1949. Sagar Ka Sher or Lion of Sagar, was the first film he directed as early as 1937 under the Sagar Movietone banner. His co-stars in this film were; Bibbo, Pesi Patel, Sankatha Prasad, Raja Mehdi and David. The music director was Pransukh M. Nayak. Uski Tamanna also known as Her Last Desire was made in 1939 under Sagar and directed by Yakub. The film starred Yakub, Maya, Bhudo Advani, Kaushalya, Sankatha Prasad, Satish and Putli. The music was composed by Anupam Ghatak. He directed his third and last movie, Aiye, in 1949 under the Indian Production banner. It had Sulochana Chatterjee, Masud, Jankidas, Sheela Naik, and Ashraf Khan along with Yakub. The music in this film was composed by Nashad and was Mubarak Begum's first film as a playback singer. Yakub's second cousin Allaudin was the song recordist for this film. However, he lost money on this film and called it the biggest mistake of his life.
When Mehmood was a struggling artist, he would hang around Bombay Talkies waiting for Yakub to arrive. Yakub knowing his financial state would give him one or two rupees in the form of loose change.
Yakub was a deeply religious person and was called Maulana by his friends.
