A K Hangal

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a-k-hangal">AK Hangal kicked off British job as he was a patriot at heart. To make a living he did tailoring and by night he performed in plays to fulfill his passion for acting. He was an active artist at Shree Sangeet Priya Mandal, a theatre group in Peshawar during 1936 and continued to act in many plays in undivided India till 1946. Through his plays he ignited a passion for freedom. However it was his communist ideology that jailed him for three years from 1947 to 1949. After partition his family moved to Pakistan but Hangal moved to Mumbai and got involved with IPTA. In Mumbai along with other friends like Kaifi Azmi, Balraj Sahani, Chetan Anand, Hangal rented a place where they performed plays.

Film director Basu Bhattachrya introduced A.K. Hangal in films Many film celebrities used to throng IPTA and pick up good artists for cinema. Once film director Basu Bhattacharya noticed A.K.Hangal in a play and approached him to play Raj Kapoor’s elder brother in his film Teesri Kasam (1966). Hangal who was doing good business as a tailor (His clients were rich and famous like Nawab Pataudi and he earned Rs 500 a month) thought for a long time whether to take risk of acting in film and quit his lucrative job but after pondering a lot he decided to join films. Though Teesri Kasa was a bitter failure but Hangal’s role was much appreciated and he was flooded with offers. In the late 60’s he did many hit films like Sara Akash, Saat Hindustani, Dharti Kahe Pukar ke, Shagird etc. The 70’s was the peak of A.K.Hangal A.K.Hangal reached his peak as a character actor and did many hit films like Abhimaan, Deewaar, Sholay, Aandhi, Namak Haraam, Aap Ki Kasam, Mere Apne, Parichay, Daag, Joshila, Heera Panna, Jawani Diwani, Garam Hawa, Bawarchi, Kora Kagaz, Chitchor, Satyam Shivam Sundaram etc the list is long. A.K. Hangal was a realistic actor A.K.Hangal’s performance was so realistic that many a times he used go into the skin of the character so pragmatically that he looked absolutely like the real character. For instance take the scene from the film Deewaar. In this film he has just a five minute cameo of a deprived municipal school teacher, whose son steals bread from a hotel to feed his starving family and is shot down by the police officer, Shashi Kapoor. When Shashi Kapoor realizes his folly and goes with some food to feed the family he encounters Hangal, the father of the criminal boy. The way Hangal reacts to Shashi Kapoor, leaves the audience awestruck by Hangal amazing emotional outburst. Instead of being loud and outrageous, he is composed and the little anger that he displays is through his potent eyes and choked voice! Indeed a natural act! It is a MUST watch scene for youngsters who are aspiring to become actors!!! A police officer mistook A.K. Hangal as Union Leader A.K.Hagal was known for playing his characters so naturally that he would fuse into the character brilliantly. Among the many roles he has played, he has been best suited in the roles of upright union leader. The most prominent film was Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan starrer Namak Haraam (1973). In this film he played the role of a union leader to such perfection that once a police officer mistook him as a Union Leader. Recalling the amusing incident Hangal in a interview said, “One day a Police Officer stopped me on my way and narrated the ordeal of a policemen job. He told me he was thinking of making a union and sought my guidance!”