Ashok Kumar

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Kumudlal's father wanted him to become a lawyer and got him enrolled in a law college. However, Kumudlal failed his exams and, to escape acrimony at home, came to live with his sister in Mumbai for a few months, until the exams were held again. Kumudlal's sister Sati Devi had been married at a very young age to Sashadhar Mukherjee, who lived in Chembur in Mumbai and worked in a fairly senior position in the technical department of Bombay Talkies, a pioneering Indian film studio. Kumudlal wanted to earn some spending money for himself, and at his request, Sashadhar Mukherjee used his influence to get him a job as laboratory assistant at Bombay Talkies. This was in the early 1930s. The salary was quite decent; furthermore, Kumudlal was successful at his job and found the work interesting, which had not been the case with law college. He tried to convince his father that he would not become successful as a lawyer and that he would be able to earn a living as a technician or lab assistant. His father would not hear of this, and it required the intervention of Sashadhar Mukherjee before he finally reconciled himself to the situation and agreed to let Kumudlal abandon his law studies. Thus began the storied film career, not as an actor but as laboratory assistant, of the future Ashok Kumar.

Kumudlal was happy working as a laboratory assistant and remained in that position for some five years. His acting career started purely by accident. Shooting was already underway on the Bombay Talkies production Jeevan Naiya in 1936, when the male lead, Najm-ul-Hassan, eloped with his co-star Devika Rani, who happened to be the wife of Himanshu Rai, millionaire owner of Bombay Talkies. Rani subsequently returned to her husband who, out of spite, dismissed Hassan and summarily ordered Kumudlal to replace him. This he did against the advice of director Franz Osten, who reckoned that the young man did not have the good looks needed for an actor. Kumudlal was given the screen name Ashok Kumar, in keeping with the general trend in an era when actors concealed their real identities behind screen names.

Ashok Kumar, as Kumudlal Ganguly was now known, started off his acting career reluctantly. His subsequent venture with Devika Rani in Achhut Kanya, the same year was one of the early blockbusters of Hindi cinema. Like several movies of that era, Achhut Kanya was a reformist piece featuring a Brahmin boy falling in love with a girl from the so-called untouchables in Indian society. The runaway success of Achhut Kanya cemented Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani as the most popular on-screen couple of that era.

The two did a string of films thereafter, including Janmabhoomi (1936), Izzat (1937), Savitri (1937), Vachan (1938) and Nirmala (1938). Their last on-screen venture was the 1941 movie Anjaan, whose failure at the box office brought an end to the on-screen couple. Devika Rani was consistently the bigger star, with Ashok Kumar working in 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 as well as stature. Back-to-back successes 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.

The Gyan Mukherjee directed 1943 movie Kismet, featuring Ashok Kumar as the first anti-hero in Indian Cinema smashed all existing box office records, becoming the first Hindi movie to gross 1 crore at the box office. The success of Kismet made Ashok Kumar the first superstar of Indian cinema. Such was his popularity at the time that, in the words of Manto, "Ashok's popularity grew each passing day. He seldom ventured out, but wherever he was spotted, he was mobbed. Traffic would come to a stop and often the police would have to use lathis to disperse his fans."

After Kismet, Ashok Kumar became the most bankable star of the era, delivering a succession of box office successes with movies such as Chal Chal Re Naujawan (1944), Shikari (1946), Sajan (1947), Mahal (1949), Mashaal (1950), Sangram (1950) and Samadhi (1950).

He produced several films for Bombay Talkies during the final years of the company including Ziddi (1948), which established the careers of Dev Anand and Pran, Neelkamal (1947), which marked the debut of Raj Kapoor, and the famous Mahal in 1949 in which he co-starred with Madhubala.

With the advent of the 1950s, Ashok Kumar switched over to more mature roles, with the exception of the 1958 classic Howrah Bridge, in which he starred alongside Madhubala. Despite the arrival of a younger crop of stars like Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar remained one of the stars of the era with hits like Afsana (1951), Nau Bahar (1952), Parineeta (1953), Bandish (1955), Ek Hi Raasta (1956), Ek Saal (1957) and Howrah Bridge (1958). His most successful film of that era was Deedar (1951), in which he played second lead to Dilip Kumar.

Ashok Kumar appeared frequently opposite Nalini Jaywant in several movies of the 1950s. He did around 17 films with Meena Kumari in a span of twenty years ranging from Tamasha in 1952 to 1972 magnum opus, Pakeezah. He played the suave cigarette-smoking criminal or police officer in several films in the mid to late 1950s, in what was the Indian film-noir movement.

By the 1960s, Ashok Kumar switched over to character roles, variously playing the parent, uncle or grandparent, being careful never to be typecast. From a judge in Kanoon (1960), an aging freedom fighter in Bandini (1963), a caring brother in Mere Mehboob (1963), an aging priest in Chitralekha (1964), a vicious zamindar in Jawaab (1970) and a criminal in Victoria 203 (1971), he played a wide variety of roles.

Ashok Kumar played important roles in several landmark movies in the 1960s and 1970s, including Jewel Thief (1967), Aashirwad (1968) (for which he won a Filmfare Award as well as National Award in 1969), Purab aur Pashchim (1970), Pakeezah (1972), Mili (1975), Chhoti Si Baat (1975) and Khoobsurat (1980).

Ashok Kumar and Pran were best friends and have acted in 27 films together from 1951 to 1987 and had 20 super-hit films together. Films like Purab Aur Pashchim, Victoria 203, Chor Ke Ghar Chor, Chori Mera Kaam, Adhikar (1971), Maan Gaye Ustad were major hits.

He teamed up with Shashi Kapoor and Rajesh Khanna in many films in 1970s and 1980s and acted as the main supporting actor in their films.

Source

• 1959 – Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
• 1962 – Filmfare Award for Best Actor, Rakhi
• 1962 – Padma Shri by the Government of India
• 1963 – Nominated Filmfare Award for Best Actor, Gumrah
• 1963 – Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Actor Award (Hindi), Gumrah
• 1966 – Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, Afsana
• 1967 – Nominated Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, Meherban
• 1969 – Filmfare Award for Best Actor, Aashirwaad
• 1969 – National Film Awards for Best Actor, Aashirwaad
• 1969 – Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award for Best Actor (Hindi), Aashirwaad
• 1969 – Nominated Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, Aashirwaad
• 1972 – Nominated Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, Victoria No. 203
• 1972 – Nominated Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, Chhoti Si Baat
• 1988 – Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award for cinematic excellence
• 1994 – Star Screen Lifetime Achievement Award
• 1995 – Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award
• 1999 – Padma Bhushan by the Government of India
• 2001 – Awadh Samman by the Government of Uttar Pradesh
• 2007 – Star Screen Special Award