December 04, 2024

Ashok Kumar (Actor) Biography, Age, Death, Wife, Children, Family, Caste, Wiki & More

Updated On : October 13, 2020

Short Biography

Ashok Kumar was born on 13-10-1911 in Bhagalpur in the state of Bihar, India. He was an Indian Film Actor, Television Actor, TV Host & Painter who was best known for his work in Hindi, Bengali and Marathi cinema.

Other Name: Kumudlal Kunjilal Ganguly, Kumudlal Ganguly, Dadamoni, Sanjay
Other Professions: Television Actor Television Presenter Painter
Appearance: Bollywood Bengali Marathi

Ashok Kumar Complete Bio & Career

Kumudlal Ganguly, popularly known by his screen name 'Ashok Kumar' was a legendary film actor and producer who had very finally played all lead, supportive and negative characters. He was called as "Dadamoni" ( an affectionate term meaning 'elder brother').
 
He completed his education at Presidency College of the University of Calcutta, Kolkata to become a lawyer. But he was not interested in law and had an interest in cinema and wanted to work as a technician in cinemas. His brother in law, Sashadhar Mukherjee was a senior person in the popular film studio of the time  'Bombay Talkies' and identified his interest and advised him to move to the city of dreams,' Bombay'.He started his career as a laboratory assistant in Bombay Studio.
 
He was happy with his job but suddenly her career took a turn towards acting as a "Lead actor" by a mere accident on the sets of movie 'Jeevan Naiya' when the female lead of the movie "Devika Rani" asked her husband who was studio head to dismiss the male lead Najmul Hassan and replace him with 'Kumudlal Ganguly'.He was given a new screen name "Ashok Kumar".He worked with Devika Rani giving hit movies but was overshadowed by her. The movie 'Kismet' launched him as an anti-hero and he got stardom making him the first lead actor with a film earning 1 crore.
 
He worked on many movies which had great success on box office, Chal Chal Re Naujawan, Sangram, Samadhi to name few. He started working as a producer and produced many hit movies and established many of the popular stars of Bollywood. He mentored many famous names in Hindi cinema including Hrishida. Later he switched to mature and character roles. He had worked in over 275 films and done more than 30 Bengali dramas. 'Aankhon Mein Tum Ho' was his last movie in 1997.

Ashok Kumar Popular Videos

Honours & Awards

AWARD NAME AWARD CATEGORY RECEIPT YEAR RECEIPT FIELD
Dadasaheb Phalke Award Indian Cinema Award 1988 Hindi Film Industry
Padma Bhushan Civilian Award 1999 Arts

Health Issues, Illness and Death Info

Ashok Kumar died on 10-12-2001 at his residence in Chembur in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, at age of 90. He died of heart failure.

DEATHDAY 10 December,2001 (Tuesday)
DEATH PLACE Chembur, Mumbai, Maharashtra
DEATH COUNTRY India

Ashok Kumar Family, Relatives and Other Relations

He was born to Kunjlal Ganguly (a lawyer) and Gouri Devi (a homemaker) in a Bengali family in Bhagalpur (Now in the Bihar state of India). He was the eldest of four with two brothers Kalyan (actor Anoop Kumar), Abhas (Popular singer and actor Kishore Kumar) and a sister Sati Devi (married to Sashadhar Mukherjee).

He had an arranged marriage with Shobha at the very young age and the couple had a harmonious married life and had four children son named Aroop Ganguly and three daughters named Bharati Patel, Rupa Verma and Preeti Ganguly (Died in 2012).

Life's Important Dates Of Ashok Kumar

Shocking / Interesting Facts & Secrets About Ashok Kumar

  • His younger brother, famous singer Kishore Kumar died on his birth-date in 1987 and he stopped celebrating his birthdays.
  • He became the first hero whose movie 'Kismet' earned crore at the box office.
  • He was the first anti-hero in the Indian cinema who broke all the existing box office records.
  • He was an enthusiastic painter and a practitioner of homeopathy apart from acting.
  • He was the person who gave Dev Anand his first break in 'Ziddi' which also established Pran as one of the leading villains of the time.
  • He gave another talent to Bollywood who ruled over the hearts of the audience in his film 'Mahal', none other than the gorgeous actress of Indian Hindi cinema 'Madhubala'.

Ashok Kumar Age, Birthday Facts and Birthday Countdown

Ashok Kumar was 90 years 1 month & 28 days old age.