The COLOSSUS

From star-crossed to the star who crossed the highest peaks of success,Ashok Kumar was born Kumudlal,the eldest of three sons and daughter of Kunjilal and Gauri Devi Ganguly,based in Khandwa,Madhya Pradesh,where his father practised law a family tradition for three generations.

Dada Moni as his younger sister named him the elder brother who was like a gem was born on Friday the 13th,and seemed to prove the superstition behind such a combination because when she heard that a boy was born,his naani maternal grandmother came running down the steps with joy,missed a step,crashed down and died on the spot! When he was admitted to a school with a then-traditional initiation ceremony,his headmaster had a mishap and the ceremony did not happen! As Kumudlal grew,a thread-ceremony too had to be done,and the priest had a heart attack and passed away the day before.

After these seeming omens ,this unlucky child grew and completed his Bachelors in Science and was compelled to take up law in Presidency College,Kolkata. Introduced to films like Puran Bhagat and Chandidas,the reluctant law student decided to become a director,confiding in his college principal because he was unable to confide in his parents.

The principal put him in touch with Himanshu Rai,whom he knew very well. Kumudlal daringly used his examination fees to buy a third-class rail ticket to Mumbai,angering his parents,but they hoped that he would realise his mistake and return soon. But destiny had played its cards,and not just Kumudlal but both his younger brothers,Anoop younger by 15 years and Abhas younger by 20! were to follow him later into films,while their sister,Sati Devi,ended up marrying film doyen and Ashok Kumars colleague,Sashadhar Mukerji,Kajols grandfather! While Anoop remained a character artiste,Abhas became a legend under his screen name Kishore Kumar!

Kumudlal took up a job as a laboratory technician in Rais Bombay Talkies,and was promoted to lab assistant in eight months. He was learning editing and mixing as well. The year was 1936. Rai had launced Jeevan Jyoti with his superstar wife Devika Rani. Leading man Najmal Hussain fell ill at the last moment,and Rai,finding his lab assistant good-looking in an unconventional way,offered Kumudlal the heros role.

A natural way out

So well had he been treated all along that Kumudlal could not even walk out. He argued that he was too young,too intelligent etc. but to no avail. His now-angry parents also came down to meet Rai to make him see reason but Rai was persistent. When the films German director,Franz Osten,scoffed,You will never make it! Go back to law! Kumudlal retorted,Only pimps and prostitutes act! I want to become a director! A shrewd Rai cajoled,Please do this one film and we will let you go. Devika and I are educated,respectable people and we,too,have come into cinema.8221;

The first shot echoed Dada Monis track-record,however. He had to rescue the heroine Devika from the villain and the nervous Ashok Kumar as christened by her jumped before time and the villain fell and fractured his leg. The shoot was postponed by six months!

After Jeevan Naiya,Rai and his wife once again convinced Ashok to do Acchut Kanya. This time,it was the German cinematographer Joseph Wirsching of Pakeezah fame later who predicted that Dada Moni would never be a big star,not with that kind of jaw. Ashok Kumar continued doing editing and mixing,but after Acchut Kanya released,he became a superstar. His songs there was no playback then like Main ban ki chidiya also became a rage.

Finding his own eyes emotionless when he was handling the prints,the actor decided to improve,but not in the dramatic kind of acting that was prevalent. He decided to introduce art,subtlety and naturalness in acting and in later interviews,openly credited Spencer Tracy and Montgomery Cliff as his inspirations. Till today considered one of Indian cinemas all-time greatest actors,watching Ashok Kumar on screen was as if one was watching someone in real life irrespective of the character that he was portraying.

The chequered phase

Ashok Kumars first house was a one-room flat shared with future brother-in-law Sashadhar Mukerji,his first monthly salary a princely Rs 150. And thats when his father gave him sound advice that helped nurture Dada Monis long career: Its the janata that has made you famous. Do nothing to displease your audience. If you are happy going up,be happy coming down too.

After Achhut Kanya,he formed a hit team with Devika Rani and did Izzat,Savitri and Nirmala. It was said that Devika played politics with him,but Ashok Kumar was now unstoppable. Forming a hit team with Leela Chitnis,he delivered blockbusters like Bandhan,Kangan he acted in three films with that title,in 1939,1959 and 1971! and Jhoola. After the death of Rai,his mentor,Bombay Talkies went into a decline and the concerned actor,director Gyan Mukherjee,Shahid Latif and Sashadhar Mukerji acquired a Francis Marian book on screenplay writing and made Kismet.

And Kismet made history. It ran for 187 weeks in Kolkata and is still ranked among the all-time greatest hits of Hindi cinema. The 1943 blockbuster consolidated Ashok Kumars position as a top star,was Hindi cinemas first-ever film with a lost-and-found theme,a lead actor playing a grey role of an anti-hero and also made natural acting trendy in our cinema. Pradeeps later to be another Phalke laureate lyrics,Door haton ae duniywalon Hindustan hamara hai,irked the British and they had to be hoodwinked into believing that the sentiments expressed were against the Japanese! The first crime drama of any consequence,Kismet however lived up to its name and after its success the team broke up. Ashok Kumar started Filmistan Studios,making films like Eight Days,Shikari,Chal Chal Re Naujawan and others,ghost-directing almost all of them. He even went to Kolkata for a few Bengali films,but came back to Mumbai and bought Bombay Talkies from a debt-ridden Devika Rani,making movies like Majboor,Ziddi,Mahal and Mashal.

Incredible innings

However,things began to worsen again in the early 50s and Ashok Kumar left the company and took to freelance acting. Sangram,Samadhi,B.R.Chopras directorial debut Afsana the first Hindi film double role of any consequence,Parineeta Ashok Kumar accused Bimal Roy of cheating him and never worked with him for a decade,Ek Hi Raasta the first BR Film,Howrah Bridge,Inspector,his one last fling at production Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi Kishore and I made this film for Anoop Kumar,and we were very angry that Kishore married Madhubala secretly! he once said were among his most successful films.

The 60s saw peaks like Chopras Kanoon in the pivotal role,Aarti,Aaj Aur Kal,Gumrah,Bandini,Meri Surat Teri Ankhen,Chitralekha,Mere Mehboob,Mamta,Jewel Thief,Intequam and Aradhana,peaking with his National Award-winning turn in Hrishikesh Mukherjees Aashirwad. In this phase he made a graceful transition from leads to character roles.

In the 70s,Dada Moni rejuvenated his career by forming a comic action pair with Pran,beginning with Sazaa and Victoria No.203,moving on to hits like Chori Mera Kaam and Shankar Dada. Some of his most sensitive portrayals also came in this phase Satyakam,Purab Aur Pacchim,his brother Kishore Kumars Door Ka Rahi,Mili,Arjun Pandit and Anurodh but the actor also excelled in comic turns in Do Phool and Chhoti Si Baat,in the serio-comic Basu Chaterjee film Khatta Meetha as well as in a negative role in Hum Tum Aur Woh. The long-delayed Pakeezah,his last film as a leading man,became a 1972 blockbuster,the last of his many movies with Meena Kumari over two decades.

The trend continued in the 1980s with lightweight roles in Khubsoorat and Shaukeeen but his quantum of work began to reduce,and there were very few memorable turns later,like Mr India 1987,his last hit. But Ashok Kumar acted without a break till 1998s Aankhon Mein Tum Ho,produced by good friend Shakti Samanta,who owed his career to Dada Moni. In the 90s he even acted in a sequel to his Navketan hit,termed Return Of Jewel Thief. The tally was almost 300 films as star-singer,hero and character artiste. He also produced several films,ghost-directed many of his productions fulfilling his original dream and even sang for himself in Kangan,Khubsoorat and Shaukeeen as a character artiste,excelling in Aashirwad,for which he sang Rail gaadi under Vasant Desais music direction.

Ashok Kumar also did a Marathi film Jamla Ho Jamla,some television series as narrator in Indian televisions first-ever soap Hum Log,and serials Bhim Bhavani,Bharat Ek Khoj,Crossroads and above all Bahadur Shah Zafar in the title-role and ads his famous Paan Parag one with Shammi Kapoor. He later took to painting and also became an expert in Homoeopathy.

Personal glimpses

Ashok Kumars marriage to Shobha was not without its hiccups,but after a separation they came together again. The actor had once admitted to five or six affairs but denied being a womaniser. His children were Arup,Bharati,Preeti actress Preeti Ganguly who now runs the Ashok Kumar Acting Academy at his Chembur residence and Roopa who married actor-filmmaker Deven Verma. Ashok Kumar stopped celebrating his birthday when his dear younger brother Kishore passed away on the same day in 1987,but his children and a few close friends threw a surprise party for his 90th birthday. Weeks later,on December 10,2001,Ashok Kumar passed away of old age.

During the last years,the widowed actor preferred to stay alone with a nurse in attendance,with his children visiting him daily. It is said that before he became bedridden,he would sleep everyday in each of the seven bedrooms in his home,just to fight his loneliness.

The discovery channel

The genius also had an eye for talent. He introduced his singer-brother Kishore Kumar in Ziddi 1948,in which Kishore did his first cameo as a gardener. On the music side,he also launched S.D.Burman in Eight Days and Shikari 1946 and produced Mahal 1949 and Mashal 1950 that marked the final breakthrough of singers Lata Mangeshkar Aayega aanewala and Manna Dey Oopar gagan vishal.

Dilip Kumar often referred to him as his mentor,while Pran once stated that Ashok Kumar had nurtured my career. It was Ashok Kumar whose hits launched the careers of B.R.Chopra as director Afsana/1951 and then his banner,BR Films Ek Hi Raasta/1956 and suggested to Shakti Samanta who had come to become an actor that he direct films. Though Samanta followed his advice,it was only with Ashok Kumars Inspector 1956 that he got his first hit. Mahal consolidated Kamal Amrohi as a director and Madhubala as an actress. And Ashok Kumar had once quipped,On the sets of Mashal,I saw a small boy observing things and taking notes. My director Nitin Bose told me that it was his nephew. Some years later he made his first film and become famous internationally. His name was Satyajit Ray.

They dont make them like Ashok Kumar anymore. But they never made them before either.