Biography

Kanwarjit Paintal Walia, better known as Paintal (born 22 August 1948), is an Indian actor and comedian. He started off as a comic actor and moved on to teaching the art of acting. He has extensively worked not only in numerous movies but also television. He was born into a Sikh family in a village named Tarn Taran which is near Amritsar, Punjab. He lived his early life with his family members in Sadar Bazaar, Delhi. Paintal learnt acting at the Film and Television Institute of India and in 2008 was the Head of the Acting Department of FTII. He came to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1969. His brother Gufi Paintal played the role Shakuni in B.R. Chopra hit show 'Mahabharat (1988 TV series)', in which he himself played the roles of Shikhandi and Sudama. His son, Hiten Paintal, is also an actor, who worked in movies such as Dil Maange More (2004) and Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008)