A.K.Hangal

A K Hangal at 91
A K Hangal at his tailoring Shop


With Jawaharlal Nehru

A. K. Hangal(Friday April 4th 2008)


A. K. Hangal
Born
Avtar Kishan Hangal1917Sialkot, Punjab
Other name(s)
Padmabhushan Avtar Krishna Hangal
Years active
1966-present
A.K. Hangal (born 1917, Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan) or Avtar Kishan Hangal is a well known character actor of Indian Hindi films.
A tailor by profession, he was an active participant in the Indian freedom struggle. His childhood spent in Peshawar, where he had performed in theatre for some major roles. However his primary occupation for the early part of his life was that of a tailor. Following his father's retirement, the family shifted from Peshawar to Karachi. He moved to Bombay after the Partition of India in 1949 after a 3 year prison in Pakistan. He was involved with the theatre group IPTA along with Balraj Sahni and Kaifi Azmi, both of whom had Marxist leanings.
He started his Hindi film career at the very late age of 49 with Basu Bhattacharya's Teesri Kasam in 1966, and went on to play the quintessential meek and oppressed poor man in innumerable Hindi movies. His own favourites are the roles he played in Sholay and Shaukeen. In movies he has played a very large number of character roles, mostly positive. He has acted in more than 125 films so far.
Hangal lives in Santa Cruz, in Mumbai, India.


Awards
The Government of India awarded him the prestigious Padma Bhushan for his contribution to Hindi Cinema in 2006.



A K Hangal: Tailor to cine star!

Ninety-two year old A K Hangal has been bedridden for the past five months. Yet, he was all smiles when I met him at his residence.
The veteran actor has acted in over 100 films -- from old classics like Guddi, Bawarchi, Aandhi and Sholay to recent ones like Lagaan and Paheli.
Not many know that Hangal was a tailor before he started his film career.
Patcy N gets Hangal to talk about his younger days as an actor, and the actor had lots of interesting things to say.


On his youth
I was born in Sialkot, but I spent my growing years in Peshawar, Pakistan. I am a Kashmiri Brahmin. My grandfather was the assistant commissioner of Peshawar and his cousin was Justice Shambhu Nath Pandit, the first Indian judge of the Bengal High Court.
My father also had a government job. But I was a freedom fighter and did not want a government job. I learnt tailoring, and I became a tailor. I formed a trade union for all the tailors in Peshawar.
After my father retired, we left Peshwar and moved to Karachi. My tailoring business was doing well, and soon, I had my own shop.
But I was always interested in music and stage plays.
'I came to Mumbai with Rs 20 in my pocket'





On his journey to Mumbai
I had heard of Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) in Pakistan and was quite impressed by their work of spreading social messages through plays.
After the Partition, I stayed back in Pakistan but I was arrested because of communist ideologies. I spent two years in jail. I was beaten regularly because I would resist everything from bad food to bad civic facilities. I was asked to leave Pakistan and go to India. But how could I leave the place and culture where I was born?
One day, Muslim seniors from my party told me to go to India and start party work there, as I was the only Hindu among them. I was given 12 hours to leave Pakistan.
I wanted to go to New Delhi to my sister but I had no money. I came to Mumbai with Rs 20 in my pocket. I was 21 years old then.
I met some friends from Karachi and they took care of my family and me. Soon, I got a job as a tailor and was paid Rs 500 per month. Those days in 19491, this was a huge amount. I used to have rich customers like the nawab of Pataudi and Britishers. I had to look presentable at all times, so I always wore suits to work.
'If Raj Kapoor was a hero, I was an actor too!'

On his early films
After I settled down in Mumbai, I started hunting for people associated with IPTA. But that had disintegrated in Mumbai, so I took the initiative to re-build it. With the help of (legendary poet) Kaifi Azmi and (veteran actor) Balraj Sahani, I rented a place for stage rehearsals. I was earning well so I got completely involved with IPTA.
People like Balraj Sahani and Chetan Anand, who saw my stage work, always encouraged me to join the movies. But I was not interested. When I was about 40 years old, (director) Basu Chatterjee offered me Teesri Kasam. I did not want to work in the film but I was told to come for the shoot at 9am. I was to play Raj Kapoor's brother.
I reached on time but Raj Kapoor arrived at 2 pm. I was very angry. If he was a hero, I was an actor too! I had slogged on stage for 20 years before I did this film. But I did not say anything. In the final cut of the film, that scene was edited out. I was not even paid.
I got recognition in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's films like Guddi, Bawarchi and Abhimaan. All the leading ladies of those days -- like Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan and Rekha -- wanted to play my daughter.


'I did not like Sachin's death scene in Sholay'

On Sholay
I was shooting for Ramesh Sippy's Sholay and Dev Anand's Ishq Ishq Ishq simultaneously. I would shoot for Sholay in Bangalore, and then go to Kathmandu for Ishq Ishq Ishq. It was quite tiring.
I did not like the scene when my grandson in Sholay (played by Sachin) dies. I asked Ramesh Sippy if we could re-shoot it. But he was convinced that the scene had come out well. He told me to watch the rushes of the film when they were ready, and added that if I didn't like the scene, we would re-shoot it. So Ramesh Sippy, Hema Malini and I saw the scene in a trail room. It had come out so well that I had to appreciate his judgement.

I never expected to play the hero because I was in my 40s when I started doing films. Chetan Anand would always say that I should have debuted at a younger age. But I felt that if I had done so, the respect I got may have been different. Character actors were treated differently and were not even paid well.
'I felt bad that my role was cut in Lagaan'

On the Shiv Sena ban on him
My film career was doing well when Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray put a ban on me in 1993 because I went to Pakistan. I wanted to see my old house, and needed material for my autobiography. When I was there, they invited me for a Pakistani Day function and I attended it. The next day, Bal Thackeray said, 'AK Hangal deshdrohi hai' in his newspaper, Samna.
My films were removed from theatres, in and around Maharashtra. My film posters were torn and my effigies were burnt. I recieved threatening calls.
I replied that I don't need a character certificate from anyone. I am a freedom fighter. Meetings were called in my support. But I was boycotted for two years. After that, things were fine again.













On one of his last films, Lagaan
I shot for Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan. But I fell in the bathroom and was in hospital for 30 days. My role was cut short, though they paid me the promised amount. They took care of my hospital bills too. Aamir Khan and his ex-wife Reena would visit me at the hospital; they respected me a lot. But I felt bad that my role was cut.