{"id":1431,"date":"2015-10-13T00:00:14","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T18:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=1431"},"modified":"2022-06-07T08:10:03","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T02:40:03","slug":"ashok-kumar-actor-indian-cinema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/ashok-kumar-actor-indian-cinema\/","title":{"rendered":"Ashok Kumar: A Colossus of Indian Cinema"},"content":{"rendered":"

All the rare pictures used in the story are courtesy SMM Ausaja<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ashok

Ashok Kumar<\/p><\/div>\n

Ek chatur naar, kar kar sringaar…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you thought the lyrics are wrong and should be ‘karke sringaar’<\/em>, think again. The song mentioned here is not that hilarious musical duel from Padosan<\/em> sung by Kishore Kumar and Manna Dey. This song is a\u00a0solo sung by Ashok Kumar in his own voice\u00a0in Jhoola<\/em><\/a> (1941). The Gyan Mukherjee-directed Ashok Kumar-Leela Chitnis starrer Jhoola<\/em> had music by Saraswati Devi and was a box-office success. The more famous Padosan<\/em> song was a straight take-off by younger brother Kishore Kumar (along with Manna Dey) on his Dadamoni’s tongue-in-cheek rendition.<\/p>\n

With his classic Bengali good looks, a mischievous smile and exceptional histrionic abilities, Ashok Kumar was the first to bring to Indian cinema the spontaneous \u201cnatural\u201d acting style, in an era when theatrical gestures and melodramatic expressions were considered mandatory for \u201cacting\u201d.<\/p>\n

Way back in the mid thirties, Ashok Kumar, or rather Kumudlal Kunjilal Ganguly, the eldest son of a well established Bengali lawyer of Khandwa, left\u00a0his law education in Kolkata after just a\u00a0year of studies and came down to work as a lab assistant in Bombay Talkies at the insistence of brother-in-law Sashadhar Mukherjee, a leading producer in the Hindi film industry.<\/p>\n

\"Ashok<\/a>

Poster of unreleased film SHIKAR (1952) which was supposed to be the debut of Subodh Mukherji as director. Mukherjee did debut in 1955 with Filmistan’s MUNIMJI !<\/p><\/div>\n

But luck had something else in store. When lead actor Najam-ul-Hussain ran off leaving the film Jeevan Naiyya<\/em> and the studio in a lurch, Bombay Talkies\u2019 boss producer-director Himanshu Rai and Mukherjee dragged a rather nervous and reluctant Ashok Kumar to face the camera, opposite none other than the top actress of those times, Devika Rani, who was also Rai\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n

Jeevan Naiyya<\/em> (1936) struck gold at the box-office, followed by the classic Achchyut Kanya<\/em> (1936) and the hit pair gave a few more films in quick succession such as Izzat<\/em> (1937), Savitri<\/em> (1937) and\u00a0Nirmala<\/em> (1938). Ashok Kumar had arrived.<\/p>\n

“For someone who joined the film industry as a hurried replacement for Najam-ul-Hussain, Ashok Kumar went on to become one of the prominent actors of his era. Though many today know him as a character actor, there are plenty of films where he showed his ability to carry a film on his shoulders,” says\u00a0Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury<\/a>, web columnist, poet and creative writer and author of ‘Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen: Bengali Cinema’s First Couple<\/a>‘ .<\/em><\/p>\n

The gawky actor slowly transformed himself into an iconic figure. With Leela Chitnis, he came up with a trio of hits Kangan<\/em> (1939), Bandhan<\/em> (1940) and Jhoola<\/em> (1941) that took him to the heights of fame. The zenith came with Kismet<\/em> (1943), the first Indian film to project an anti hero and one that wrote box-office history by running for 4 years in Roxy Theater in Kolkata.<\/p>\n

“When actors didn’t need six-packs to perform, when appreciation was not measured in opening day collections, when the magic of cinema led people to the screen without a publicity budget almost equaling the film’s cost, in those days, this man ruled, for more than two decades, as the highest paid actor of the Indian film industry, giving a string of hits, including\u00a0Kismet<\/em>\u00a0which ran for 4 years non-stop creating a record which lasted all the way till Sholay!” says SMM Ausaja<\/a>, VP of Osianama, film historian and renowned archivist of vintage film memorabilia.<\/p>\n

\"Hand<\/a>

Ashok Kumar and Nalini Jaywant in Naaz<\/p><\/div>\n

With Nalini Jaywant, Ashok Kumar formed one of the most romantic screen pairs of all times in films like Samadhi<\/em> (1950) and Nau Bahar<\/em> (1952).<\/p>\n

The exquisitely beautiful Madhubala starred with him in two hugely successful films- Mahal<\/em>\u00a0(1949) and Howrah Bridge <\/em>(1958), both crime thrillers. In fact, the songs \u201cAayega aanewala<\/a>\u201d<\/em> by Lata Mangeshkar in Mahal<\/em> and \u201cAaiye Meherbaan<\/a>\u201d<\/em> by Asha Bhosle in Howrah Bridge<\/em> are rated among the biggest hits in the careers of the Mangeshkar sisters.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, the matinee idol commanded a huge fan following. Says Manek Premchand, author of Romancing the Song, Talat Mahmood – The Velvet Voice<\/em> and several other popular books on music and cinema in a candid comment, \u201cOh to be sitting on a table just 2 feet away from Ashok Kumar, as he was sipping tea and having pakoras at Mrs. Khanna’s Samovar restaurant many bluemoons ago, laughing his raspy laughter with maybe Deepti Naval and 2 others…who for me shrank to insignificance… So, to be sitting next to one of my two top heroes, and not telling him I am nuts about him… Later, I felt like kicking myself.”<\/p>\n

Ashok Kumar along with Mukherjee launched Filmistan Studio but he did return to Bombay Talkies to produce some films like Mahal, Majboor, Mashaal, Ziddi,<\/em> etc. He then started Ashok Kumar Productions which made a few films like Maa, Kalpana<\/em> and Meri Soorat Teri Aankhen <\/em>(a film best known for its classical songs).<\/em><\/p>\n

With younger brother Kishore Kumar who had shot to fame as actor-singer, Ashok Kumar gave some memorable films like Bhai Bhai, Bandi<\/em> and the side-splitting comedy Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (<\/em>1958). The film about three harum-scarum\u00a0motor mechanic brothers played by the three Ganguly brothers \u2013 Ashok, Kishore and Anup \u2013 rewrote the norms of comedy in cinema, stepping clear of slapstick and relying on wit and humor.<\/p>\n

Baajooo…Babu, samjho ishaare, horan pukaare<\/strong><\/em> (Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi<\/em>, 1958) – SD Burman \/ Majrooh Sultanpuri \/ Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey<\/span><\/p>\n