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Bollywood (Hindi) cinema
Top-grossing
1930s
1940s
1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s
1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s
2010 2011 2012

A list of films produced by the Bollywood film industry based in Mumbai in 1972:

Highest grossing[link]

The top forty grossing films at the Indian Box Office in 1972:^[1]

The last five in the above list were declared flops at the box office.

1972[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bollywood films of 1972 at the Internet Movie Database
• Indian Film Songs from the Year 1972 - A look back at 1972 with a special focus on the Hindi film song

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2010)

Ashok Kumar
Born	Kumudlal Kunjilal Ganguly (1911-10-13)13 October 1911 Bhagalpur, Bengal Presidency, British India
Died	10 December 2001(2001-12-10) (aged 90) Mumbai, Maharastra, India
Cause of death	Heart Failure
Residence	Chembur, Mumbai, India
Other names	Sanjay Ashok Kumar
Occupation	Actor, painter
Years active	1936–1997
Spouse	Shobha Devi
Relatives	Anoop Kumar, Kishore Kumar(Brothers), Sati Devi (Sister)

Ashok Kumar ( Bengali অশোক কুমার গাঙ্গুলী, 13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001) also fondly called Dadamoni in Bengali, was an Indian film actor. Born Kumudlal Ganguly in Bhagalpur, Bengal Presidency he attained iconic status in Indian cinema. The Government of India honoured him with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and the Padma Bhushan in 1998 for his contributions to Indian cinema.

Family[link]

His father Kunjalal Ganguly was a lawyer and his mother Gouri Devi came from a wealthy Bengali Kulin Brahmin family. The "Ganguly family" was based in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh. His brothers Anoop Kumar and Kishore Kumar also acted in films. The three brothers worked together in the comedies Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi and Badhti Ka Naam Dadhi. Ashok, though the eldest of the three by quite a margin, survived them both. In fact, he stopped celebrating his birthday after the youngest brother, Kishore, died on that day in 1987. His sister, Sati Devi, was married to Sashadhar Mukherjee of the Mukherjee-Samarth family.

Ashok Kumar married Shobha. They had a troubled marriage due to his wife being an alcoholic.^[1] His daughter, Preeti Ganguly acted in numerous Hindi film, during 1970s,^[2] later she started the 'Ashok Kumar's Academy of Dramatic Arts', Mumbai in 1993.^[3] His other daughter, Rupa Ganguly and son Arun Ganguly never joined films,^[4] Rupa is married to actor Deven Verma^[5]

Early career[link]

Reverently called Dadamoni (affectionate term for elder brother), he was born in Bhagalpur and educated at Presidency College of the University of Calcutta, Kolkata). He started his career in Bombay (Mumbai), albeit accidentally, with the Bombay Talkies production Jeevan Naiya in 1936. The male lead, Najam-ul-Hussain, went absconding with the heroine Devika Rani, the director's wife who returned later on. The director and studio head, Himanshu Rai, in retaliation dismissed the hero and called upon his laboratory assistant Ashok Kumar to take the part and thus began a six-decade-long acting career. However, it was his subsequent venture with Devika Rani in Achhut Kanya in the same year that set him up for the big league. The movie itself stands out as one of the heralding social dramas of pre-independence Indian film. It was the story of a Brahmin boy falling in love with a girl from the so-called untouchables in Indian society. It was a big hit and started the trend of socially committed films.

Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar in Achhut Kanya, 1936

Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar did a string of films after this including Izzat (1937), Savitri (1937) and 'Nirmala' (1938). But she was the bigger star and Ashok Kumar was definitely in her shadow. He came into his own with three films opposite Leela Chitnis: Kangan (1939), Bandhan (1940), Jhoola (1941), singing his own songs as was the custom then. He came away with several hits including most famously Main Ban ka Panchhi.

He was one of the first anti-heroes of Indian Cinema with his role in Kismet in 1943. This movie went on to create a record for the highest grossing film in India at the time of its release.

He produced several films for Bombay Talkies during the final years of the company including the famous Mahal in 1949 in which he co-starred with Madhubala. In the 1950s, he played the suave cigarette-smoking criminal or police officer in several films of what was the Indian film-noir movement. In the late 1960s he switched to character roles playing the parent, grandparent, dirty old man and suave criminal, being careful never to be typecast. He paired up 20 times with the 'queen of tragedy' Meena Kumari, in films such as Parineeta, Bahu Begum, Pakeezah, Ek Hi Raasta, Bandish and Aarti and Chitralekha (1964).

Later career and death[link]

He acted in fewer films in the 1980s and 1990s and occasionally appeared on television, most famously anchoring the first Indian soap opera Hum Log and appearing as the title character in the unforgettable Bahadur Shah Zafar. His last film role was in Aankhon Mein Tum Ho in 1997. Besides acting, he was an avid painter and a practitioner of homeopathy.^{[citation needed]} Altogether, he starred in over 275 films. He has done more than 30 Bengali dramas in Dhakuria.

Ashok Kumar died at the age of 90 in Mumbai on 10 December 2001 of heart failure at his residence in Chembur. The then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee described him as "an inspiration... for many generations of aspiring actors."^[6]

Awards and recognition[link]

• 1959 - Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
• 1962 - Filmfare Best Actor Award, Rakhi
• 1963 - Bengal Film Journalists' Association - Best Actor Award (Hindi), Gumrah^[7]
• 1966 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award, Afsana
• 1969 - Filmfare Best Actor Award, Aashirwaad
• 1969 - National Film Awards for Best Actor, Aashirwaad
• 1969 - Bengal Film Journalists' Association - Best Actor Award (Hindi), Aashirwaad^[8]
• 1988 - Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award for cinematic excellence
• 1994 - Star Screen Lifetime Achievement Award
• 1995 - Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award
• 1998 - Padma Bhushan
• 2001 - Awadh Samman by the Government of Uttar Pradesh
• 2007 - "Special Award" by Star Screen Awards^[9]

Filmography[link]

Some of his most remembered films include:

• Achhut Kanya (1936)
• Kismet (1943)
• Parineeta (1953)
• Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958)
• Chitralekha (1964)
• Hatey Bazarey (1967)
• Aashirwad (1968)
• Choti Si Baat (1975)
• Mili (1975)
• Khoobsurat (1980)
• Khatta Meetha (1981)
• Mr. India (1987)
• Sangram

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ashok Kumar at the Internet Movie Database
• A Good article by Anuradha Choudhary
• Complete list of Ashok Kumar Movies (over 250)