Sanjay Ashok Kumar better known, as Ashok Kumar was a renowned actor of the Bollywood film industry in India. He was born up and brought up as Kumudlal Kunjilal Ganguly in the district of Bhagalpur in the Indian state of West Bengal. He completed his education from the renowned Presidency College in the state capital of West Bengal, Kolkata. He stands apart as an icon of the Hindi cinema of the 20th century. His style of acting is believed to have a naturalistic flair. His brother Kishore Kumar and Anoop Kumar are also renowned film actors. His sister Sati Devi tied the knot with Sasadhar Mukherjee. The three brothers together appeared in the film called Chalti Ka Naam Gadi.

Ashok Kumar is popularly known in the world of Hindi film industry as `Dadamoni`, which affectionately signifies `elder brother`. In the year 1936 he started his career in Mumbai with the production house named Bombay talkies Production in the film Jeevan Naiya. It was by sheer coincidence that Ashok Kumar got to play the lead role in this movie when the lead actor was found to have been eloped with the female lead and the director`s wife Devika Rani. It was at this time that the director and studio head called up his laboratory assistant Ashok Kumar and told him to play the lead role. Thus began the six-decade long acting career of Ashok Kumar. His next venture in the same year with Devika Rani in Acchut Kanya set him up for the big league. With this movie started the establishment of the trend of socially committed films. In the following years both the actors starred in many films together including Izzat in 1937, Savitri in 1937, and Nirmala in 1938. He struggled to create a niche for himself in the following films namely Kangan in 1939, Bandhan in 1940 and Jhoola in 1941. According to the prevalent custom he used to sing his own songs then. He credited himself with several hits in the following years including most famously Main Ban Ka Panchhi. It was after this that Ashok Kumar challenged the more traditional theatrical style of acting and developed his more natural style. It was in Kismet, which was released in the year 1943 that he created a record by portraying the character of an anti-hero for the first time in the Indian cinema.

Ashok Kumar also ventured into the art of production during the final years of the company, which also included the famous movie Mahal in the year 1949. In this film he starred against Madhubala. In the 1950s he mostly portrayed the roles of cigarette-smoking criminals or police officers and in the period of 1960s he shifted to the roles of parents, grandparents, suave criminal and dirty old men. In the later part of the nineteenth century he acted in very few films and occasionally appeared on television. Ashok Kumar is also credited for anchoring the first Indian soap opera Hum Log and also made his appearance in the most unforgettable role of Bahadur Shah Zafar. The last film in which he acted was Aankhon Mein Tum Ho in the year 1997. His remarkable film career records more than 275 films. Ashok Kumar was also rewarded with many popular awards including Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which is also regarded as the highest award for cinematic excellence and also 2 lifetime achievement awards. Besides his acting career he was also skilled in the profession of painting and was also a practitioner of Homeopathy. This great actor breathed his last in Mumbai at the age of 90.