His childhood was spent in Peshawar, where he had performed in theater for some major roles. However, his primary occupation for the early part of his life was that of a tailor. He was an active participant in the Indian freedom struggle. Following his father’s retirement, the family moved from Peshawar to Karachi. He moved to Bombay after the Partition of India in 1949 after 3 years in prison in Pakistan. He was involved with the theater 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 30 with Basu Bhattacharya’s Teesri Kasam in 1946, and went on to play the quintessential meek and oppressed old man in innumerable Hindi movies. His own favorites 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.
A.K. Hangal
Movies
Deewar (2004)
The movie tells the story of two brothers, Vijay and Ravi Verma, who follow different career paths: Vijay is a smuggler and Ravi the policeman who is asked to hunt Vijay down. Vijay Verma (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ravi Verma (Shashi Kapoor) are the sons of a trade unionist, Anand Verma(Satyen…
Krishna Aur Kans
It is the story of Krishna, the destiny’s child, born as the nemesis of brutal king Kans who had tormented the kingdom with his ruthless dominance. Growing up as a naughty prankster, Krishna from a very early age displays his valiant powers over the deadly demons send by Kans, whose…
Amar Deep
Raja was adopted by a criminal don (Ashok Kumar) at a very young age. After the death of the don, Raja inherits the property, and refrains from crime. However, the wealth and the power associated with it, make him arrogant. He desires Radha, the daughter of his servant, Ramu, and…
Sholay
Sholay means “embers” in Hindi. In this film, a police officer whose family was filled by a bandit named Gabbar Singh decides to fight fire with fire and requires two convicts, Jai and Veeru, to capture Gabbar. He approaches them in jail and puts the proposal in front of them,…
Manzil
Ajay Chandra, a hard working and ambitious young man, who dreams of bigger things than a small job. He has dreams of starting his own business. One day he meets Aruna at a friends wedding and slowly fall in love. Aruna is daughter of a very successful lawyer. Ajay uses…
Meri Jung
Deepak Verma is framed for a Murder by GD Thakral even thou he is innocent his wife Aarti pleads to Thakral but it goes unanswered and Deepak is hanged till death,Aarti disappears after the incident her children Arun and Komal believe she is dead they both become homeless,Arun starts doing…
Tapasya
Tapasya – meaning penance is the story of Indu, eldest child of Prof Chandrakant Sinha takes on the responsibility of rearing her younger siblings, Vinod, Madhu and the youngest sister. Indu is the breadwinner of the family and acts as both father and mother to the children. The family doctor,…
Thodisi Bewafai
Arun takes on the responsibility for the care of his step-mother (Sujatha) and step-sisters on the death of his father. Losses in business result in the sale of their palatial home, and Arun together with his wife (Neema – Shabana Azmi) move to a smaller house. Tensions escalate between Neema…
Naram Garam
The story revolves around an old man, chachaji in search of a home after his house is repossesed by the village money-lender, and his young daughter, Kusum. Ramprasad is a poor young man in the employ of Bhavani Shankar a superstitious, middle aged widower. Ramprasad succeeds in securing a victory…
Paheli
Parsimonious Bhanwarlal is a Bania (businessman) who lives in Navalgarh, Rajasthan, along with his wife; his sons Sunderlal and Kishanlal; Sunderlal is married to Gajrobai and has a son. During the annual camel race, Sunderlal loses the race to the Thakur and out of shame leaves home, never to return.…
Chitchor
Meera, who lives in Bombay writes her parents about a prospective bridegroom for her youngest sister Gowri. Pitambar Chaudhry and his wife are overjoyed by the prospect of marrying Gowri off to an engineer, who studied in Germany and has excellent financial prospects. Pitambar meets the train, arranges for a…
Jalwa
Kapil’s (Naseeruddin Shah) younger brother, Buntu, dies as a result of a drug overdose. Kapil vows to put an end to drugs and drug-dealers, by joining the police. He soon attains the title of C.I.D. Inspector. He lives in Bombay with his mom (Kamini Kaushal). One day his friend from…
Daag
Sunil and Sonia are attracted to each other, and both get married. On the way to celebrate their honeymoon, they spend a night at Sunil’s boss’s bungalow, which is occupied by his son, Dhiraj. Dhiraj welcomes the two, and allows them to spend the night. Next morning, when Sunil leaves…
Fun Facts
From Bawarchi in 1972 to Sautela Bhai in 1996, A.K.Hangal remained a part of Rajesh Khanna's films as the solo male lead hero. Hangal acted in 16 films with Kaka.