We salute today an actor who breathed his last on 10th October thirteen years ago. An actor who came on screen by default. He would be sitting at the editing tables in Bombay Talkies fiddling with the clippings when he discovered his talent to act. A film on sets had the hero missing. The director thought of his assistant editor to replace the hero. And that is how Ashok Kumar ,Kumud Ganguly from Khandwa,came to stay with us on our silver screen to delight us forever. I have seen him on screen in small theatres in Hubli. I was a child then and the ticket,seat on cement floors,was Do Anna. Such a delight to see him with Leela Chitnisji,singing songs on the jhoola. I even danced some of those songs. He was a stylish actor.Absolutely stylish. You had to watch him how he would light a cigarette with one eyebrow raised.And then the smoke in spiralls. Even if he had to open a door,he would do it with such elegance. Thats how he won our hearts when he would address his wife,Mala Sinha,in that much famous film,Gumraah. Mama Mia,came to be an open address for all fond wives in that era. His father in Aashirwad will never be forgotten. Countless films where Ashok Kumar was not an actor,a role on the screen but a person who lived with us in our homes. Actors like Ashok Kumar came to teach us that the silver screen is not a visit to the cinema hall.Its a part of our daily life,whether in middle class Bombay or upper class Malabar Hill. Our salutes to a grease paint that never showed,Ashok Kumar lived for us even in those humble small cinema halls in a small time place like Hubli. A song which I love.He plays the tabla and says the Bols with such perfection.A hit of a song.Piya Bawari.Dont let Rekhaji disturb you,Watch Dada Moniji on the tabla.Ustad Zakir Hussain must have envied him there!!! https://youtube/watch?v=BvBl-CpX_OU
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 02:54:00 +0000
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