ASHOK KUMAR ,A LEGEND OF HINDI CINEMAS WHO BORN ON HIS BROTHER KISHORE DEATH DATE OCTOBER 13, 1911

ASHOK KUMAR ,A LEGEND OF HINDI CINEMAS WHO 

BORN ON HIS BROTHER KISHORE DEATH DATE OCTOBER 13, 1911

Ashok Kumar (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), born Kumudlal Ganguly and also fondly called Dadamoni, was an Indian film actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema. He was honoured in 1988 with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest national award for cinema artists, by the Government of India and also received the Padma Bhushan in 1999 for his contributions to Indian cinema. He is considered to be one of India's finest ever actors, playing leading, negative and character roles with equal panache.

Family[edit]

Ashok Kumar was born Kumudlal Ganguly in Bhagalpur, then in the Bengal Presidency and now lying in Bihar. His father, Kunjlal Ganguly, was a lawyer while his mother, Gouri Devi, was a home-maker. Kumudlal (as he was then known) was the eldest of four children. A couple of years younger to him was his only sister, Sati Devi, who was married at a very young age to Sashadhar Mukherjee and became the matriarch of a large "film family". More than fourteen years younger than Kumudlal was his next brother, Kalyan (b.1926), who later took the screen name Anoop Kumar, and youngest of all was Abhas (b.1929), whose screen name was Kishore Kumar and who became a phenomenally successful playback singer of Hindi films. Although the eldest of the three brothers by several years, Ashok Kumar outlived all his siblings. In fact, he stopped celebrating his birthday after his youngest brother, Kishore, died on that very day (Ashok's birthday) in 1987.

While still a teenager, and well before he had even given thought to a career in films, the young Kumudlal was married to Shobha in a match arranged by their parents in the usual Indian style.[1] Their lifelong marriage was a harmonious and conventional one, and despite his film career, the couple retained a very middle-class outlook and value system, bringing up their children in a remarkably simple home, with traditional values. They were the parents of one son named Aroop Ganguly and three daughters named Bharati Patel, Rupa Verma and Preeti Ganguly. Their son, Aroop Kumar Ganguly, featured as the hero of exactly one film, Bezubaan (1962), which flopped at the box office. He then made a career in the corporate world. Ashok's eldest daughter, Bharati Patel, is the mother of the actress Anuradha Patel, who is married to the actor Kanwaljeet Singh. Ashok's second daughter, Rupa Verma, is the wife of the actor and comedian Deven Verma. Ashok's youngest daughter, Preeti Ganguly, was the only one of his daughters to enter the film industry. She acted as a comedian in several Hindi films during the 1970s and 1980s, and died unmarried in 2012.[2]

Ashok Kumar's daughter Bharati was married two times, and both times for love. Her first marriage was to a Mr. Patel, and by this marriage she had one daughter, the actress Anuradha Patel, who is married to the actor Kanwaljeet Singh.

 Later, and much against the wishes of her parents, Bharati made a second marriage with Hameed Jaffrey, brother of the actor Saeed Jaffrey, and a Muslim by birth. By this second marriage, Bharati had another daughter, Shaheen Jaffrey, whose principal claim to fame is that she may have been the first love of actor Salman Khan.[3] 

By this second marriage, Bharati also acquired a step-daughter, Geneviève, who was Hameed's daughter by his first wife Valarie Salway, a woman of mixed Scottish, Irish, Portuguese and Spanish heritage.[4] Geneviève married a Sindhi businessman named Jagdeep Advani.

 Their daughter is the upcoming model and actress Kiara Advani. Thus, Ashok Kumar has no relationship of blood with Kiara Advani and she is not his great-granddaughter, as is sometimes rumoured.

Early years (1911–36)[edit]

Reverently called Dadamoni (affectionate term for elder brother), Kumudlal Ganguly was born in Bhagalpur and educated at Presidency College of the University of Calcutta, Kolkata, where he studied to become a lawyer. However, his heart was not into his law studies. Ganguly was more interested in cinema, in which he dreamt of working as a technician.

It was the lure of cinema and the presence of his brother-in-law Sashadhar Mukherjee in a fairly senior position in Bombay Talkies which prompted Kumudlal Ganguly to move to Bombay (Mumbai) in the mid 1930s, where he started off as a laboratory assistant in Bombay Talkies, one of the biggest film studios of that era.

Early career (1936–42)[edit]

Kumudlal Ganguly was happy working as a laboratory assistant, when his acting career started purely by accident. Shooting was already underway of the Bombay Talkies production Jeevan Naiya in 1936, when the male lead Najmul Hassan eloped with his co star Devika Rani, who also happened to be the wife of studio head Himanshu Rai. 

Rani subsequently returned to her husband who, out of spite, dismissed Hassan and called upon Kumudlal Ganguly to replace him (against the advice of director Franz Osten, who reckoned that the young man did not have the looks needed for an actor). Ganguly 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.


Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar in Achhut Kanya, 1936

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 legendary on screen couple. All through, Devika Rani was the bigger star with Ashok Kumar working in her shadow.

He started emerging from Devika Rani's considerable 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.

Stardom (1943–50)[edit]

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."[5]

Post Kismet, Ashok Kumar became the most bankable star of the era, delivering a succession of box office successes with movies like 
Chal Chal Re Naujawan (1944), 
Shikari (1946), 
Sajan (1947), 
Mahal (1949), 
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.

Post-stardom (1950s)[edit]

With the advent of the 1950s Ashok Kumar switched over to more mature roles, with the exception of the 1958 classic Howrah Bridge. 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) and 
EK Hi Raasta (1956). 

His most successful film of that era was Deedar (1951), in which he played second fiddle to Dilip Kumar.

Ashok Kumar appeared in several movies opposite Meena Kumari and Nalini Jaywant (with whom he was rumoured to have an affair) in the 1950s. 

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.

Late career (1960–1980)[edit]

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), 
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 an important role 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).

Last years and death[edit]

He acted in fewer films in the 1980s and 1990s and occasionally appeared on television, most famously anchoring the first Indian soap opera Hum Log and appearing as the title character in the unforgettable Bahadur Shah Zafar. He is today largely remembered for his television appearances in the 1980s.

Ashok Kumar's last film role was in the 1997 movie Aankhon Mein Tum Ho. Besides acting, he was an avid painter and a practitioner of homeopathy. A qualified homoeopath, Ashok Kumar earned a reputation for conjuring up miracle cures. Altogether, he starred in over 275 films. He has done more than 30 Bengali dramas in Dhakuria.

Ashok Kumar died at the age of 90 in Mumbai on 10 December 2001 of heart failure at his residence in Chembur. The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee described him as "an inspiration... for many generations of aspiring actors."[6]

Legacy[edit]

Ashok Kumar is widely regarded as a pioneering actor who introduced natural acting to Hindi cinema. He was the first superstar of Hindi cinema as well as the first lead actor to play an anti-hero. He also became the first star to reinvent himself, enjoying a long and hugely successful career as a character actor.

Ashok Kumar is also credited with mentoring several personalities who went on to make significant contributions to Indian cinema. As producer with Bombay Talkies, Ashok Kumar gave Dev Anand his first break in Ziddi (1948), which also established Pran (then a struggling actor who had just fled to India during partition) as one of the leading villains of the era. 

The 1949 film Mahal, starring Ashok Kumar and made under his watch at Bombay Talkies launched the career of Madhubala, one of the leading actresses of the 1950s. The legendary song 'aayega aanewala' from Mahal was the turning point in the career of a hitherto little known young singer called Lata Mangeshkar.

Off the screen, Ashok Kumar gave B.R. Chopra (then a film critic and unsuccessful filmmaker) his first break as director with the 1951 film Afsana. The success of Afsana established Chopra as a respected filmmaker. Ashok Kumar also played mentor to his assistant at Bombay Talkies, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who went on to become one of the great directors of Hindi cinema. 

He was the lucky mascot for a promising young director called Shakti Samanta in the late 1950s, delivering a series of hits with Inspector (1956), Howrah Bridge (1958) and Detective (1958) which helped the young man establish himself as a successful director. Shakti Samanta would go on to deliver several movies in the 1960s and 1970s which are regarded today as classics.

Ashok Kumar also paved the way for his younger brothers Kalyan (Anup) and Kishore Kumar. While Anup is best remembered for his role in Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Kishore went on to become a legendary singer. Arguably, Kishore is today the most popular of the brothers.

The distinctive style and mannerisms that Ashok Kumar adopted in his late career still remains extremely popular among mimicry artists.

Awards and recognition[edit]
1959 – Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
1962 – Filmfare Best Actor Award, Rakhi
1963 – Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Actor Award (Hindi), Gumrah
1966 – Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award, Afsana
1969 – Filmfare Best Actor Award, Aashirwaad
1969 – National Film Awards for Best Actor, Aashirwaad
1969 – Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Actor Award (Hindi), Aashirwaad
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[7]
2001 – Awadh Samman by the Government of Uttar Pradesh
2007 - "Special Award" by Star Screen Awards[8]

Selected filmography[edit]
Main article: Ashok Kumar filmography
Some of Kumar's most popular films include:


Achhut Kanya (1936)
Janmabhoomi (1936)
Bandhan (1940)
Jhoola (1941)
Anjaan (1941)
Kismet (1943)
Mahal (1949)
Parineeta (1953)
Bhai-Bhai (1956)
Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958)
Howrah Bridge (1958)
Kanoon (1960)
Dharmputra (1961)
Ummeed (1962)
Grahasti (1963)
Gumraah (1963)
Chitralekha (1964)
Hatey Bazarey (1967)
Jewel Thief (1967)
Aabroo (1968)
Aashirwad (1968)
Intaquam (1969)
Victoria No. 203 (1972)
Choti Si Baat (1975)
Mili (1975)
Anand Ashram(1977)
Khatta Meetha (1978)
Khoobsurat (1980)
Shaukeen (1982)
Bhago Bhut Aaya (1985)
Mr. India (1987)
Sangram (1993)
Mera Damad (1995)
References[edit]
Jump up ^


ASHOK KUMAR , HINDI ACTOR  
FROM -AFTER SILENT ERA

 குமுத்லால் கங்குலி மற்றும் தாதமணி என்று அழைக்கப்படும் நடிகர் அசோக்குமார் 1911  அக்டோபர் 13  இல் பிறந்தார் . இவர் 1988  இல் தாதாசாஹெப் விருதும் ,1999  இல் பத்ம பூஷன் விருதும் பெற்றுள்ளார் .இவை இரண்டும் சினிமா உலகில் உயரிய விருதாகும் . இவர் குணசித்திர நடிகர் ,வில்லன் ,கதாநாயகன் என்று எல்லா பரிணாமங்களிலும் நடித்துள்ளார் 

பிறப்பும் , வளர்ப்பும் 

அசோக்குமார் வங்காள ப்ரெசிடென்ஸி பகுதியில் பகல்பூரில் குமுத்லால் என்ற இயற் பெயரில் பிறந்தார் . இவர் வழக்கறிஞர் ஆனா தந்தை குஞ்சிலால் கங்குலிக்கும் , கவுரிதேவிக்கும் மூத்த மகனாய் பிறந்தார் . இரண்டு வருடம் கழித்து பிறந்த தங்கை சதிதேவி சஷாதர் முகர்ஜிக்கு மிக சிறு வயதில் திருமணம் செய்து வைக்கப்பட்டார் .அடுத்து பிறந்த தமையன் பெயர் அனூப் குமார் 15 வருட இடை வெளியில் 1926 இல் பிறந்தார் . இதை அடுத்து மூன்று வருடத்தில் அபாஸ் என்ற கிஷோர் குமார் 1929 இல் பிறந்தார் 


சொந்த வாழ்கை 

அக்கால வழக்கப்படி மிக சிறிய டீன் ஏஜ் பருவத்திலேயே ஷோபா என்பாரை திருமணம் செய்தார் . இது பெற்றோர்களால் நடத்தப்பட்ட திருமணம் ஆகும் . இந்த திருமணம் மகிழ்ச்சியாகவும் , கோட்பாட்டுக்குள் அடங்கியதாயும் நடுத்தர வாழ்க்கையையே பின்பற்றி யதாகவும் அமைந்தது . இவர்களுக்கு அனூப் கங்குலி என்ற மகனும் , பார்தி படேல் , ரூபா வர்மா , ப்ரீத்தி கங்குலி ஆகிய மகள்களும் அடுத்தடுத்து பிறந்தனர் 

 . அரூப் குமார் பேஸுபான் என்ற படத்தில் நடித்தார் .இப்படம் தோல்வி அடைய பின்னர் ஒரு கார்ப்பரேட் கம்பனியில் வேலைக்கு சேர்ந்து விட்டார் .பார்தி படேல்படேல் என்பாருக்கு  வாழ்க்கைப்பட்டு அனுராதா படேல் என்ற மகள் உள்ளார் .இவரும்ரூ சினிமாவில் நடித்துள்ளார் .  
அனுராதா படேல் நடிகர் கான்வல்ஜீத் சிங்கிற்கு வாழ்க்கைப்பட்டுள்ளார்.

பெற்றோர் விருப்பத்தை மீறி இரண்டாவதாய் ஹமீது ஜாப்பிரி என்ற முஸ்லிமை மணந்தார்  இதன் மூலமாக ஷாஹீன் ஜாப்பிரி என்ற மகள் பிறந்தார். இவரே சல்மான் கானின் முதல் காதலி 

ரூபா வர்மா என்ற இரண்டாவது மகள் தேவன் வர்மா என்ற காமெடி நடிகருக்கு வாழ்கை பட்டுள்ளார் . ப்ரீத்தி கங்குலி,என்ற மூன்றாவது மகள் 1970  மற்றும் 1980  களில் பல படங்களில் சிரிப்பு நடிகை யாக நடித்துள்ளார் .இவர் திருமணமே செய்து கொள்ளாமல் 2012  இல் இறந்தார் 

ஆரம்ப வாழ்க்கையும் , சினிமா நடிகர் ஆன வரலாறு 

குமுத்லால் கல்கத்தா ப்ரெசிடெண்சி கல்லூரியில் கல்வி பயின்றார் .அவர் வழக்கறிஞர் வேலைக்கு படித்தாலும் அவரது கவனம் முழுவதும் சினிமா மீதே சென்றது .எனவே பம்பாய்க்கு சென்று தன மைத்துனருடன் பாம்பே டாக்கீஸில் லேப் உதவியாளராக பணி புரிந்தார் .

குமுத்லால் கங்குலி ஒரு ஆய்வக உதவியாளராக மகிழ்ச்சியாக பணிபுரிந்தார், 1936 ஆம் ஆண்டில் மும்பை டாக்கீஸ் தயாரிப்பு ஜீவன் நையா . அப்போது நட்சத்திரமான தேவிகா ராணி நடிகர் நஜ்முல் ஹாசன் என்ற கதாநாயகனுடன் நடித்தார் . தேவிகா ராணி யின் கணவர் ஹிமான்சு ராய் அப்படத்தின் தயாரிப்பாளர் . என்றாலும்  நஜ்முல் ஹாசனுடன் காதல் வயப்பட்டு தேவிகாரணி அவருடன் ஓடி விட்டார் . பின்னர் சில நாட்களில் தேவிகாராணி கணவருடன் திரும்ப வந்து விட்டார் .பழைய கதாநாயகன் நஜ்முல் ஹாசன் நடிக்க மறுத்து விட்டார்  . எனவே கதாநாயகனுக்கு உரிய லட்சணங்கள் இல்லாது பார்வைக்கு சுமாராக   இருந்த குமுத்லால் அசோக்குமார் என்ற பெயர் மாற்றப்பட்டு அப்படத்தின் கதாநாயகனாக மிளிர்ந்தார்  .

சிகரத்தை தொட்ட அசோக்குமார்  

அதே ஆண்டில் தேவிகாராணி யுடன் நடித்த அச்சுத கன்யா 1936  இல்வெளிவந்து நன்றாக ஓடியது  
ஜென்மபூமி , 1936
இஸ்சாட் , 1937
சாவித்திரி , 1937
வசான் ,1938
நிர்மலா 1938 
என்று தொடர் வெற்றியை தேவிகாராணி யின் நிழலில் அனுபவித்தார் .

 பின்னர் லீலா சிட்னிஸ் படங்களில் 
கங்கன் , 1939
பாந்தன் , 1940
ஆசாத் , 1940
ஜுலா , 1941
என்று தொடர் வெற்றி கண்டு இந்தி படத்தில் ஒரு நிலையான அந்தஸ்தை 5 வருடங்களில் பெற்றுவிட்டார் 

1943இல் வெளிவந்த கிஸ் மத் மாபெரும் வெற்றி அடைந்தது .
எங்கு சென்றாலும் ரசிகர் கூட்டம் மொய்த்தது . சில சமயங்களில் ரசிகர் பி பாட்டாளத்தை தடியடி நடத்தி கலைத்த வரலாறும் உண்டு 

இவ்வாறு சுமார் 300 படங்களுக்கு மேல் நடித்துள்ளார் 

இறப்பு 
இவர் 2001  ஆம் ஆண்டு டிசம்பர் 10  இல் ௯௦ வயதில்தி டீர் மாரடைப்பு ஏற்பட்டு மரணம் அடைந்தார் . அப்போது அடல் பிகாரி வாஜ்பாய் நடிப்புக்கு ஒரு இலக்கணம் வகுத்தவர் என்று பாராட்டினார்