Ricky Kej’s grandfather was an Olympic cyclist banned by British for hoisting Indian flag

3 min readMumbaiJun 17, 2026 07:25 PM IST

Ricky Kej at Expresso in Bengaluru. (Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

Ricky Kej has done India proud by winning three Grammy Awards over the years. At the 14th edition of The Indian Express series Expresso held in Bengaluru, Ricky pointed out that he isn’t the first person in his family to create history and make their nation proud. While no one even in his extended family was a musician, he was very close to his maternal grandfather, Jankidas Mehra, who was a cyclist, actor, and journalist.

When Jankidas Mehra was banned by the British

Talking about his grandfather Jankidas Mehra, Ricky Kej said, “He started off his career as an Olympic cyclist. He participated in the Berlin Olympics, and won multiple medals in the British Empire Games. That’s what the Commonwealth Games was known as back then. He was supposed to unfurl the British flag there because we were still under the British rule.”

However, before leaving for the venue in Australia, he crossed pathis with Mahatma Gandhi, who suggested him to unfurl the Indian National Congress (INC) flag, which was widely recognizsed as the flag of India back in 1936. “My grandfather said, ‘They’ll shoot me if I do that.’ Gandhi ji said, ‘But you’ll live forever. You’ll be the first-ever person to unfurl the Indian flag on foreign soil.'”

After Jankidas agreed, Gandhi gifted him the INC flag. After reaching the venue in Australia, Jankidas pulled down the British flag, stepped on it, and hoisted the Indian flag instead. “Of course, he was deported back to India very promptly, and was banned from ever touching a bicycle. That ended his sporting career,” recalled Ricky.

Watch the 14th edition of Expresso with Ricky Kej

Jankidas Mehra discovered Dharmendra, Meena Kumari

But that setback didn’t deter Jankidas Mehra from shaping history again, in a completely different sector — Hindi cinema. “He was responsible for the discovery of various actors, like Dharmendra and Meena Kumari. His first film as an actor was also Madhubala’s first film. He reached great heights,” revealed Ricky Kej.

Jankidas made his debut with the 1941 mystery thriller Khazanchi. He was instrumental in the debut of Dharmendra, who started his career with Arjun Hingorani’s Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere in 1960. Jankidas also played a key role in discovering Meena Kumari, who made her debut with Vijay Bhatt’s 1939 action film Leather Face as a child actor.

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He appeared in over 1000 films between 1941 and 1998, his final appearance being in Ghar Bazar. “He became a journalist after that. He kept very busy, and remained very close to me till the day he died,” added Ricky.

Jankidas Mehra passed away at the age of 93 in 2003.