Kanwarjit Paintal (born 22 August 1948), better known mononymously as Paintal, is an Indian actor, comedian and acting teacher. He has worked extensively in Hindi cinema and television, beginning his career as a comic actor before moving into the teaching of acting at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).
| Born | 22 August 1948 |
|---|---|
| Birthplace | Tarn Taran, near Amritsar, Punjab, India |
| Community | Sikh |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian, acting teacher |
| Alma mater | Film and Television Institute of India, Pune |
| Notable position | Head of the Acting Department, FTII (2008) |
| Brother | Gufi Paintal, actor |
| Son | Hiten Paintal, actor |
Paintal was born into a Sikh family in Tarn Taran, a town near Amritsar in the Indian state of Punjab. He spent his early years with his family in Sadar Bazaar, Delhi. He went on to train in acting at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.
Paintal moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1969 to pursue a career in films. He established himself as a comic actor in Hindi cinema and later expanded his work to television.
In B. R. Chopra's landmark television series Mahabharat (1988), Paintal played the dual roles of Shikhandi and Sudama. His elder brother, Gufi Paintal, was cast in the same series as the schemer Shakuni.
Alongside his on-screen work, Paintal has been active as an instructor of acting. By 2008, he was serving as the Head of the Acting Department at the Film and Television Institute of India.
Paintal comes from a family with strong ties to Indian screen acting. His brother Gufi Paintal was a well-known actor, particularly remembered for the role of Shakuni in Mahabharat. His son Hiten Paintal is also an actor, with film credits including Dil Maange More (2004) and Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008).
Paintal's career bridges performance and pedagogy in Indian cinema. As a comic actor of the 1970s and 1980s and later as a senior faculty member at the FTII, he represents a generation of performers who went on to shape formal acting training in India.