After 1987, for 15 years till his death, Ashok Kumar, fondly called Dadamoni, didn’t celebrate his birthdays. There was a strong emotional reason behind it. It was on his birthday that year his younger brother, Kishor Kumar had passed away. This in a way sums up the kind of person Ashok Kumar was. Ashok Kumar (Kumudlal Ganguli) was born in Bhagalpur to a lawyer father Kunjilal Ganguly and mother Gouri Devi. Gouri Devi later gave birth to two more sons, Kishor and Anup and a daughter, Sati Devi.
Ashok Kumar, an educated man (graduated from the prestigious Presidency college in Kolkata), had no intention of getting into acting and came to Bombay to become a director. His first job was as a laboratory assistant in S. Mukherjee ‘s studio. S. Mukherjee, a film maker, was married to Ashok’s sister.
It was under the strangest circumstances that Ashok Kumar got a chance to act with the then super star Devika Rani in a film called Jeevan Naiyya (1936). The actor, Najam-ul-Hassan, who was supposed to play the lead role had earlier eloped with Devika Rani, who was married to the producer, Himanshu Rai . Devika was brought back and the producer Himanshu Rai pleaded with Ashok Kumar to step in. Ashok Kumar was hesitant because those days actors were looked down upon. After much persuasion, he finally agreed and the rest is history.
It was Rai’s Achchut Kanya, with Devika Rani again, that made Ashok Kumar a household name. A decent singer, Ashok Kumar would sing his own songs in the films (as was the norm those days) and some of his songs like ‘Main ban ka panchchi…’ became instant hits.
Six decades and about 300 films later, it was impossible to think what would Ashok Kumar be, if not an actor. One of the best actors that Bollywood has ever witnessed, Ashok Kumar’s transition from a lead actor to character roles later in his years was smooth and as effective. Not quite as mad as his brother Kishor Kumar, Dadamoni had a distinct sense of humour. His rendition of Rail gaadi….jhuk jhuk (which is incidentally been recently used by the Indian railways in their latest ad) never fails to bring a smile. The Ganguly brothers, Ashok, Kishor and Anup came together in hilarious movies like Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi and Badhti ka naam daadi.
Ashok Kumar has seen dizzying heights of stardom. His film Kismet (1943) was one of the biggest hits in Hindi cinema, a record that was broken only by Sholay years later.
He won the National award for Best actor for Aashirwad (1968). His first controversy came in the form of the film Sangram (1950) where he played a gray character and it was banned for sending out wrong messages. Even after he started taking on father’s roles or other character roles, he packed a punch, may it be as a love guru in Choti Si Baat (1975) or a sympathetic father-in-law in Khubsoorat (1980) or an endearing father in Khatta Meetha.
His serious roles included films like Bandini, Parineeta, Pakeezah etc.
He was also a fine painter, an accomplished chess player and an active practitioner of Homeopathy.
He won the Dada Saheb Phalke award in 1988. In the 80s he entered the television scene with a daily soap, Hum Log. His last film was Aankhon Mein Tum Ho (1997)
Generally controversy free, Ashok Kumar had three daughters. His daughter Preeti Ganguly and grand daughter Anuradha Patel tried their hand at acting too. Ashok Kumar outlived both his brothers and died at the ripe old age of 90 on December 10, 2001 in Mumbai.
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