Punjabi comedian Saroop Parinda of ‘Atro Chatro’ fame passes away
Comedian Saroop Singh ‘Parinda’, 78, known as ‘Chachi Atro’ of the popular ‘Atro-Chatro’ series, passed away here in the wee hours of Saturday.
Comedian Saroop Singh ‘Parinda’, 78, known as ‘Chachi Atro’ of the popular ‘Atro-Chatro’ series, passed away here in the wee hours of Saturday.
Parinda was cremated in the afternoon. In keeping with his wish, the body was brought to the Bibi Wala Road cremation ground in a flower-decked vehicle led by a team playing the bagpiper band and drums. Parinda leaves behind wife Dalip Kaur and sons Rajinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh ‘Happy Parinda’.
Parinda started his career as a theatre actor in 1954 with director Mahinder Singh Bawra of Forward Theatre Group. They formed a group Sahit Kala Sangam here and started performing cultural events. Bawra gave him the name ‘Parinda’. He also worked in the public relations department as a drama artist and bhangra player.
He became popular after playing comedy acts of ‘Atro-Chatro’ on Jalandhar Doordarshan in the late eighties. His companion, late Deshraj Sharma, played Chatro.
Parinda worked in around 30 feature films and about 50 comedy telefilms and Punjabi television serials. He wrote Punjabi serials ‘Ghar-Jawai, ‘Flato’ and ‘Nasihat’ for Doordarshan. ‘Kulli Yaar Di’ was his first film as a comedian.
Parinda worked with many noted comedians in films such as Mehar Mittal, Balwinder Vicky, Jaswinder Bhalla, Gurpreet Ghuggi, Rana Ranbir and Bhagwant Mann.
He had been performing in the Ramlila for long and played the role of Manthra. He had performed even at last year’s Ramlila.
Parinda was born in 1938 in Bathinda and lived there his entire life. He did not have formal education and learned to read and write Punjabi.
The family expressed disappointment saying no official from the district administration paid tributes to the departed soul. Gurpreet Singh said his father in later years was disappointed with the state government for not recognising his art.