Ashok Kumar - The most bankable star of the 40s
The first film of Ashok Kumar was Jeevan Naiya (1936), a Bombay Talkies production. It was a sheer fluke that he became an actor. He didn't want to become an actor. Those days, actors were really looked down upon. They were believed to come from the lowest strata of society. He came to Bombay to become a director. So he joined Bombay Talkies as a technician. he worked in the camera department. Later, he was made a lab assistant. He worked as Lab Assistant for 8 months, suddenly Himanshu Rai, the owner of Bombay Talkies made him the hero of the film Jeevan Naiya replacing the existing hero Najam-ul- Hussain. Initially, he was not comfortable in acting but later gathered confidence in his second film Achhut Kanya (1936) , where he again paired with Devika Rani became a smash hit established him a great actor. After that, he was a permanent hero of all Bombay Talkies movies In 1943 he played the first anti-hero...