Biography

He had financed 72 films.

He had paid Shammi Kapoor Rs. 32000 as salary for the film Ham Sab Chor Hain (1956). Soon, he offered him a lower salary of only Rs. 20000 for Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957). When Kapoor protested, Jalan replied, "Take it or leave it. Get out!". He took the offer but later remembered Jalan as "a very crude man". In any case, the film was a huge hit for Kapoor and soon he was able to get good salaries for his films.

Even though the film that he financed Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957) for his heroine Ameeta was a hit, the film's producer Sasadhar Mukherjee, writer and director Nasir Hussain and hero Shammi Kapoor all left Jalan and Ameeta to make another hit film Dil Deke Dekho (1959) with a new heroine Asha Parekh, which became a bigger hit.

He took personal interest in promoting the career of actress Ameeta by starring her in Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957), but it was the hero Shammi Kapoor who became the star when the film became a hit.

He purchased Bombay Talkies. One of the first steps that he took was to order the gates of the studio to be permanently locked. Plans were subsequently unveiled for converting Bombay Talkies into an industrial centre. A prolonged and inconclusive legal battle ensued. It was evident that the curtains had finally fallen over one of the most ambitious and imaginative cultural projects of modern India.