Romancing the camera for decades

“The best of acting is about being just good enough. The terms ‘under acting' and ‘over acting' are wrong,” he said after receiving the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1989. Small wonder the words hold good even today, for it came from an actor noted for his natural performances at a time when acting in Hindi films was theatrical — Ashok Kumar Ganguly.

Ashok Kumar was a laboratory assistant to Himanshu Rai when the director noticed sparks of a natural actor in the former. And, in 1936, Ashok Kumar got his break in Rai's “Jeevan Naiya”. And, as they say, there had been no looking back since. Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani became a hit pair in films such as “Achyut Kanya”, “Izzat”, “Savitri” and “Nirmala”. Ashok Kumar had always said: “Devika Rani was a far bigger star than I was, and initially, I was in her shadows. However, she was dignified and highly cooperative.”

Gradually, Ashok Kumar's career looked up with super hits such as “Kangan”, “Bandhan”, “Jhoola” and “Kismat”. But then, he always remembered his earlier performances. He's said: “I never considered my initial films milestones in acting. I wasn't confident as to what I should do with my hands, and whenever the situation gave me scope, I lit a cigarette to hide my weakness.”

Proving his mettle

It was in Kamal Amrohi's “Mahal” that he proved himself as an actor of merit, and followed it with “Sangram”, on which the film “Shakti” (1982) was based. Bimal Roy too extracted the best out of Ashok Kumar in films such as “Parineeta” and “Bandini”. By the 1950s, Ashok Kumar established himself as an effortless and versatile actor. He over-shadowed Dilip Kumar in “Deedar”, Raj Kapoor in “Bewafa” and Dev Anand in “Baadbaan”, “Tamasha” and “Jewel Thief”. Ashok Kumar's memorable performances include “Ek Hi Raasta”, “Kanoon”, “Gumrah”, “Rakhi”, “Ashirwad” and “Satyakam”. He would study each character he portrayed and tried his best to be the character.

Ashok Kumar, with his brothers Anup Kumar and Kishore Kumar appeared in the rollicking comedy “Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi” in 1957, a super hit. .

Like Motilal and Balraj Sahni, Ashok Kumar never tried to dominate co-actors but helped them. Sample this. While shooting for “Oonche Log” with Raaj Kumar, he's said to have told the film's director Phani Majumdar: “I am a blind person in this film. Focus the camera on Raaj Kumar so that he receives ample scope to deliver his dialogue. I will react with my ears and my back to the camera.” Raaj Kumar was so moved by his performance that he congratulated Ashok Kumar after the shot. Similarly, while shooting the famous court scene of “Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ki”, Ashok Kumar supposedly lowered his pitch during dialogue delivery and suddenly raised it to match that of the equally-talented Motilal.

Ashok Kumar appeared with Suchitra Sen in “Hospital” in Bengali, but was not happy with his melodramatic performance as the doctor in the film. However, he gave a lifetime's performance as an idealist doctor in Tapan Sinha's “Hate Bazare” in 1967. He lost the national award the same year to Uttam Kumar in “Antony Firingee”, but acknowledged Uttam was better than him in the film. He had high regard for Chabi Biswas, Pahari Sanyal and Arundhati Sinha, whom he considered an actor of international calibre, next only to Suchitra Sen. Ashok Kumar was active throughout the 1970s and 1980s as a character actor, and gave some brilliant performances in films such as “Safar”, “Arjun Pandit” and “Choti Si Baat”.

However, not all his films are memorable. He himself had said: “Among the few hundred films I have performed in, only around 50 are memorable. In Hindi films, there's hardly any scope for true artistic satisfaction, as the box-office rules all conditions of filmmaking. There was hardly any scope to perform as I did in the court scene with Motilal in ‘Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ki' or that of a realistic villain in ‘Jewel Thief'.”

The singer in him

He was also an accomplished singer. He sang melodious numbers such as ‘Main Ban Ki Chidiya', ‘Rail Gadi Jhama Jham' and ‘Chalo Ek Khushi Ke Geet Gaaye'.

The 1980s saw him transgress to television with equal gusto and enthusiasm with serials such as “Hum Log” and “Dada Dadi Ki Kahaniyaan”.

Fittingly, on the occasion of his birth centenary, Harper Collins India is planning to publish the second edition of his biography penned by renowned author and script writer Nabendu Ghosh.