Exclusive! Dharmendra Pays Tribute To Legendary Actor Ashok Kumar On His Death Anniversary: He Was A Natural...

“Dada Moni,” the chronically charismatic Dharmendra says the Moni-ker with much affection and warmth.

In a career spanning 60 years ‘Dada Moni’ better known as Ashok Kumar did nearly a 100 films beginning with Jeevan Naiya in 1936.

Some of his films co-starred Dharmendra who admits he had a lot to learn from his senior. “By the time I began acting Dada Moni was already a veteran. I think the first film we did together was Bimal Roy’s Bandini. Though both Nutanji and Dada Moni had bigger roles than me, I regard Bandini as one of my favourite films. It was an honour to work with Bimal Roy and Dada Moni for the first time. I think Dada Moni was Bimalda’s favourite. They had already done a major film together Parineeta before Bandini.”

The affable ever-charismatic Dharmendra says there was a lot to learn from Ashok Kumar, “Being natural on screen, not exaggerating emotions… this is what I learnt from Dada Moni. He was a complete natural in front of the camera. I also tried to be as authentic as possible in all my characters. Dada Moni and I didn’t have any scenes together in Bandini. But when we worked together in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Satyakam I got the chance to do many scenes with him. I observed him closely, and came away a better actor.”

Satyakam which is Dharmendra’s all-time favourite film featured Ashok Kumar as the younger actor’s father. “We had many very difficult scenes together. But Dada Moni made it seem effortless. He was that rare kind of actor who could bring any scene alive. We did other films together, like Asit Sen’s Mamta and Sharafat. In both, he was a leading man. Dada Moni never graduated to character roles. He remained the hero till the end. In every that he starred in he got the highest credit billing. He didn’t have to fight for it. It was his by right.”