Kumar Pallana

Kumar Valavhadas Pallana (23 December 1918 – 10 October 2013) was an Indian-American character actor.^[1] He performed on the Mickey Mouse Club as a plate spinner and juggler.^[2]

Kumar Pallana
Kumar Pallana in 2006
Born	Kumar Valavhadas Pallana (1918-12-23)23 December 1918 Indore, Indore State, Central India Agency, British India
Died	10 October 2013(2013-10-10) (aged 94) Oakland, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1952–2013

Career

Pallana moved to the United States in 1946 and spent 20 years performing around the country before settling down in Texas at his wife's insistence, and started a yoga studio.^[3]

Pallana was married to Ranjana Jethwa and had two children, son Dipak and daughter Sandhya. His son Dipak created, owned and operated a cafe called the Cosmic Cup (now Cosmic Cafe)^[4] in Dallas, where Kumar met director Wes Anderson and actor Owen Wilson. Anderson subsequently cast Pallana in his films Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited. Pallana also appeared in the Bollywood movie Anjaana Anjaani (2010) and the acclaimed independent film Another Earth (2011). A short documentary, KUMAR:MKE, about Pallana's connection to the Milwaukee film scene, was released in 2015.^[5]

Death

Pallana died on 10 October 2013 at his home in California at age 94.^[3]

Personal life

Pallana's daughter Sandhya Pallana worked with him on The Terminal and other productions. His son Dipak, also an actor, appeared in films such as Bottle Rocket, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums.^[3]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1952	Viva Zapata!	Soldier	Uncredited
1996	Bottle Rocket	Kumar
1998	Rushmore	Mr. Littlejeans
2001	The Royal Tenenbaums	Pagoda
2002	Bomb the System	Kumar Baba
2003	Duplex	Indian Restaurant Owner
2004	The Terminal	Gupta Rajan
2005	Romance & Cigarettes	Da Da Kumar
2006	The Gold Bracelet	Dhinubhai
2006	RevoLOUtion	Kumar
2006	10 Items or Less	Lee
2007	The Darjeeling Limited	Old man on train
2009	Karma Aur Holi	DJ Rav
2009	Today's Special	Shah
2010	Anjaana Anjaani	Coast guard
2011	Another Earth	Purdeep
2011	Hollywood Whores	Magic Man
2011	Campus Radio	Yogi
2012	Heavy Hands	The Clerk
2014	Hamlet A.D.D.	Kumar	Posthumous
2019	Black Licorice	Kumar	Posthumous; Final film role