Bollywood’s distinguished character artist A.K. Hangal, who endeared himself to the audience by playing the role of the lovable old man in films like Sholay, Shaukeen and Namak Haram, died on sunday following a brief illness.
The 95- year- old thespian had suffered a fracture on his thigh bone and had been admitted to the hospital in a critical condition. A surgery was to take place, but doctors at the hospital called it off as he had several complications including chest problem, breathing and lung ailments.
Hangal’s journey to filmdom was not a cake walk. He had heard of Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) while he was in Pakistan and was quite impressed by their work of spreading social messages through plays. After the partition, Hangal chose to stay back in Pakistan but he was arrested because of his communist ideologies. He even spent two years in jail, later he was asked to go to India.
He was born in a Kashmiri Pandit family in Sialkot (Pakistan) and came to the city of dreams — Mumbai — at the age of 21.
Hangal had participated in the country’s freedom struggle before he joined the Hindi film industry. He has acted in over 200 films which included ‘Sholay’, ‘Bawarchi’, ‘Aaina’ and ‘Namak Haram’ Recently, he was seen in a TV show called ‘Madhubala’.
