Ashok Kumar grand old man on Indian Hindi cinema started his career with Devik Rani in ‘Jeevan Naiyya’ and then he went on to give numerous hits during his career.

Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar did a string of films including Izzat (1937), Savitri (1937) and ‘Nirmala’ (1938).

He also gave hits with Leela Chitnis in Kangan (1939), Bandhan (1940), and Jhoola (1941).

His breakthrough performance was in Kismet (1943) which ran for three years in Bombay and Calcutta and was one of the first Hindi language mega-hits of India and gained him national fame through his brilliant performances and his talented singing.

From then onwards, Kumar became a sought-after actor who appeared in over 200 Hindi and a few other Indian language films.

Ashok Kumar reverently called Dadamoni had set the trend of heroes playing characters with negative shades.

The legendary actor broke all conventions and played a villain to perfection in jewel thief, a blockbuster of the late ’60s which also starred Dev Anand.

Kismet, in which Ashok Kumar played an anti-hero, was the earliest Hindi film to have run continuously for more than a year.