Ashok Kumar, born Kumudlal Ganguly on 13 October 1911 in Bhagalpur, British India (now in Bihar, India), was a legendary Indian actor known for his iconic status in Indian cinema. He is considered the first major star of Indian films and the first actor to portray an anti-hero in Indian cinema. Later in his career, he reinvented himself as a successful character actor. Kumar was awarded the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1988, along with the Padma Shri in 1962 and the Padma Bhushan in 1999 for his contributions to cinema.
**Background and Personal Life:**
Kumudlal was born into a Hindu Bengali Brahmin family. His father, Kunjlal Ganguly, was a lawyer, and his mother, Gouri Devi, was a housewife. He had three younger siblings: his sister Sati Devi, who married Sashadhar Mukherjee and became the matriarch of a well-known film family; his brother Kalyan, who later took the name Anoop Kumar; and his youngest brother Abhas, known as Kishore Kumar, a celebrated playback singer. Ashok outlived all his siblings, and after Kishore's death in 1987, he stopped celebrating his birthday.
At a young age, Kumudlal married Shobha, his cousin, in a traditional arranged marriage. Their relationship was harmonious and conventional, with the couple raising their children in a simple, middle-class environment. They had one son, Aroop, and three daughters: Bharati Patel, Rupa Verma, and Preeti Ganguly. Aroop worked in one film, *Bezubaan* (1962), but later moved to the corporate world. Bharati's daughter, actress Anuradha Patel, is part of the film industry, and Rupa, a former actress, is the widow of actor-comedian Deven Verma. Preeti Ganguly, a comedienne, passed away in 2012.
Bharati married Dr. Veerendra Patel, with whom she had three children, including Anuradha. Later, she married Hameed Jaffrey, the brother of actor Saeed Jaffrey, and had another son, Saahil. Through this marriage, Bharati became the stepmother of Geneviève and Shaheen, daughters of Hameed and his first wife Valerie Salway. Geneviève married businessman Jagdeep Advani, and their daughter, Kiara Advani, became an actress. Though Ashok Kumar is not directly related to Kiara Advani, they share a family connection through Bharati's marriage.
Kumar was educated at Presidency College, Calcutta, with the intention of becoming a lawyer, but he was more passionate about cinema and hoped to work as a technician in the film industry.
