On this weekend, I am back with Bollywood and this time I am writing about one of the most versatile actor of the Indian silver screen, and in the film industry he was known as “Dada Muni” and we know him as
ASHOK KUMAR
His real name was Kumudlal Ganguly, and he was born on 13 Oct 1911. His sister was married to Sashdhar Mukherjee ( popularly known as S Mukherjee in Bollywood). He came to Mumbai, and was interested in technical aspect of film making and on his request , S Mukherjee who at that time was employed with Bombay Talkies got him job there. He was happy working as Lab Assistant. His acting career started purely by accident. Bombay Talkies production Jeevan Naiya was on the floor and the male lead Najmul Hassan eloped with his co star Devika Rani, who also happened to be wife of studio head Himanshu Rai. Devika Rani after some time returned to her husband, and Himanshu Rao out of spite dismissed Hassan and called upon Kumudlal to replace the male lead, and was given the screen name of Ashok Kumar. His next film with Devika Rani was Achhut Kanya, which was block buster. Their pairing became famous and they did many films together, but as Devika Rani was a very big star, Ashok Kumar had to work under her shadow.
He started emerging from Devika Rani’s shadow owing to pairing opposite leela chitnis another actress who was senior to him in age. With Kangan (1939), Bandhan (1940) and Azad (1940) saw Ashok Kumar emerge as a popular actor in his own right. The success of Jhoola (1941), in which he starred opposite Leela Chitnis, established him as one of the most bankable actors of the era.
Gyan Mukherjee directed Kismet (1943) smashed all existing box office records, becoming the first hindi movie to gross 1 Cr at the box office, and made Ashok Kumar a very big star. After Kisment he became the most bankable star of Bollywood. His other hit films of that decade were Naujawan, Shikari, Sajan, Mahal, Samadhi.
In the 50s, Ashok Kumar switched over to more mature role, with the exception of Howrah Bridge (1958). Despite the presence of younger stars like Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand & Raj Kapoor, he remained one of the top star/actor of that era, with hits like Afsana (19521), Parineeta (1953) Bandish (1955), Ek Hi Raasta (1957). His most successful film was of 50s was Deedar where he acted with Dilip Kumar & Nargis. He acted with Nalini Jaywant in many films during 50s, and he did 17 films with Meena Kumari starting with Tamasha in 1952 and ending with Pakeezah in 1972.
By 1960s he had switched over to character roles and did many marvellous films like Kanoon, Rakhi, Bandini, Chitralekha, Victoria No 203, Jewel Thief, Aashirwad, Purab aur Paschim, Mili, Anuraag, Choti Si Baat, Khubsurat.
He acted in fewer films in 1980s and 1990s, and occasionally appeared on TV, most famously anchoring the first Indian Soap Opera ‘Hum Log’ and also appeared as the title character in TV serial Bahadur Shar Zafar.
Beside acting he was avid painter and a practitioner of Homeopathy. A qualified Homeopath, earned a reputation for curing many diseases.
In the career spanning over 6 decades he acted in nearly 275 films. He died on 10th Dec 2001 of heart failure, when he was 90 years old.
He won Filmfare Best Actor Awards for Raakhi (1962) and Aashirwad (1969), Best supporting Actor Award for Afsana (1966).
He won National Best actor Award for Aashirwad in 1969.
He was awarded by govt India Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1988 and Padma Bhudshan in 1999.
He is also credited with mentoring many film personalities. As producer (with Bombay Talkies) he gave break to Dev Anand in Ziddi (1958), which also established Pran ( who had just come to Bombay after partition). 1949 film Mahal, starring him launched the career of Madhubala, and it was also turning point of Lata Mangeshkar’s career with song Aayega Aanewala. He gave BR Chopra, then a film critic and unsuccessful film maker, his first break as director with Afsana (1951), which established BR Chopra as film maker. He also played mentor to Hrishikesh Mukherjee, his assistant in Bombay Talkies, who went on to become one of the great director of Bollywood. He was also responsible for the careers of his brothers Kishore kumar & Anup Kumar. Once Kishore Kumar was in big soup with Income Tax department as Kishore hardly filed his tax retuns. On Ashok Kumar’s assurance ID dept did not file case against Kishore, and at that time Ashok insisted and Kishore agreed to appear on stage and started his shows to earn extra money to pay Income Tax.
Ashok Kumar was such a respected personality in the film industry that in the film titles , when the star cast was mentioned, his name was always mentioned first then other names, whether he was lead artist or was playing character roles this protocol had become standard. Only once, one star’s name came ahead of Ashok Kumar, but that star happened to be the producer of the film also, and the film title started as “ Dev Anand presents Ashok Kumar in Vijay Anand’s JEWEL THIEF. Starring Dev Anand, Vyjayanthimala and” —– .
He was the perfect gentleman actor of the Indian film industry and the first known star of Bollywood.
Waiting for your views/comments/feed backs.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
7th Jun 2019.
R. N. Mungale.
Ashok Kumar was a great actor of all times.