Lovingly called Dadamuni, Ashok Kumar came into movies by sheer accident.

He was a laboratory assistant in Bombay Talkies, when they were making Jeevan Naiya. The film's leading man Najam-ul-Hussain ran away with actress Devika Rani, the boss's wife. Obviously, he was dropped from the film -- the actress, however, was retained. They were in search of a hero when Himanshu Rai asked Ashok Kumar to play the lead role. Thus began Kumar's long journey.

Ashok, a trained classical singer, was well suited to the prevalent trend of actors singing their own songs. Some of his hits include Main ban ki chidiya, Chal chal re naujawaan and Na jaane kidhar aaj meri nao chali re. Three of his films with Leela Chitnis -- Kangan, Jhoola and Bandhan -- established him as an actor.

Kumar was known for playing romantic leads but in Kismet (1943), he played his first negative role, where he smoked a cigarette on screen. The movie was a huge hit, running for three years in a Calcutta theatre.

In the 1950s, he acted in series of crime films (with the now-famous cigarette, of course) -- Sangram, Inspector, Howrah Bridge and Night Club, among others. He also did sensitive roles in films like Naubahar, Parineeta and Ek Hi Raasta, and of course unforgettable comedy with Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi. He even tackled the horror thriller, Mahal.

Ashok Kumar was tough competition to the big league stars of the period, like Dev Anand (with whom he acted in Badbaan), Dilip Kumar (with whom he did Deedar) and Raj Kapoor (with whom he did Bewafaa).

Who can forget his flawless performance in Bandini alongside Nutan?

As time went by, he was seen in character roles. Kumar cut down his work drastically in the 1980s, appearing in television serials like Hum Log and Bahadur Shah Zafar, playing the title role in the latter.

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