- Changed his name from Pedgoanche Shahane to Dhumal for his career.
- He was born on 29th March, 1914. Dhumal's father was a lawyer but he died when Dhumal was just 10. So the whole responsibility of his family, fell on him. At that time, the tradition was that if a Brahmin came to anyone's door, they were never sent back empty-handed. Thai's how he kept the home fires burning. Later on, he joined a drama company, where he served drinks and washed utensils. And sometimes when small artistes failed to turn up, the spot boys would fill in for them. That's how he landed up with bit roles in plays.During this period, he met Mr. P.K.Atre and Nanasaheb Phatak, both big names in the drama world. They were later to become close friends of his, for years to come. Soon, he started getting recognized and bigger roles came his way. Although he eventually became famous as a comedian in films, he was more well known as a villain. He played major roles in famous plays like, 'Lagna Chi Bedi', 'Ghara Baher'. His performance as an old man was so convincing, that people told him he would never get anyone to marry him if he kept it up! He was barely 25 years old then! From stage, he shifted his focus to the silver screen. He worked in big movies like Woh Kaun Thi, Ankhen, Gumnaam, Arzoo, Sasural etc. In fact, we don't even know most of his movies because he never took us to see them. It is only after his death that we saw his movies. But I remember someone telling us, that the first movie he did was a Marathi one, called Pedgaonche Shahane in which he played the role of a South Indian. After that, he got many offers to play similar roles. He did all of them but was not very happy doing the same thing over and over again.
- Has a son and 3 Daughter's.
- Daughter's name is Hema Dhananjay Phatak.
- Son named Pramod.
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