An Imitation Gem

Why is it that Ashok Kumar is the eternal favourite of mimicry artistes?

In a way, Indira Gandhi is responsible for the memorable expression, “Chhan pakaiyya, chhan pakaiyya.” In 1983, someone called Miguel Sabido visited India and met Mrs Gandhi. Sabido was from Mexico, where he had made a widely watched soap opera with a message about excessive population. The thickly moustachioed Sabido, wearing a light-coloured suit, suggested to Mrs Gandhi that something similar be done in India. Sabido’s point was taken. And on 7 July 1984, just around an hour after Martina Navratilova defeated Chris Evert in the Wimbledon final, Hum Log made its debut.

Ashok Kumar was 73 then. Though active, he was past his prime. But in the unlikely environs of the Prime Minister’s Office, his legacy received a fresh lease of life. Hum Log gave him a peripheral but unforgettable role. He would appear at the end of every episode, bar a few at the start. With robust hand gestures and the use of ‘Chhan pakkaiya’, he would provide perspective on the lives of the characters, often ending with, “Dekhenge, agli kisht mein, Hum Log.” The routine was popularised by comedians, notably Johnny Lever.

But this is 2009, and the Ashok Kumar impersonation still endures. When Akhil Saxena, creative director, Percept H, had to make a radio commercial for Nahar Group’s Amrit Shakti township in Powai, he set it to the tune and style of ‘Rail gaadi’, the song Ashok Kumar not only featured in, but also sang in the 1968 Hrishikesh Mukherjee film Aashirwad. As a child, Saxena, now 48, had seen the film in a theatre in Kanpur.

What is it about Ashok Kumar that 73 years after his first film (Jeevan Naiya), 41 years after Aashirwad, 25 years after Hum Log and eight years after his death, his impersonation still continues?

Actor Shreyas Talpade won many mimicry contests when in college. He does an excellent Ashok Kumar. He says, “You just cross your hands and say ‘Bete… (trails off with a sigh)’ and people recognise you are doing Ashok Kumar. He had a distinctive style. No one does a Vinod Khanna, for example. I would start with Dadamoni (as he was affectionately called). I would not tell the audience who I was doing. He was a big star of his day. Hum Log sustained his popularity. And Johnnybhai propagated it.”

“Imitating Emraan Hashmi won’t get me a laugh,” says Vikram Sathe, known for his imitation of cricketers. “But doing an old-timer like Ashok Kumar will. These actors had distinct characteristics which few of the current stars do.”

Sameer Joshi, director on the Nahar account at Percept H, is 30. He did not exist when Aashirwad was released. But he says, “It is not how old the song is that matters. It is the popularity and connectivity. ‘Rail gaadi’ was the first Indian rap song. The young generation may not know Saigal songs, but they know Ashok Kumar’s voice. They know ‘Rail gaadi’, which still plays at DJ parties.” After the commercial was aired, Joshi received text messages from friends in the advertising industry saying: ‘Dadamoni ki jai ho.’

Indian film mimicry has certain staples: a mix of lead actors, villains, comedians and character actors. Their imitations elicit different reactions. Amitabh Bachchan’s engrosses, but does not amuse, chiefly because it is his serious scenes that are commonly imitated. Like the ‘Vijay Dinanath Chauhan’ monologue in Agneepath or the temple scene from Deewar. In contrast, Rajesh Khanna’s or Dev Anand’s impersonations amuse. Ashok Kumar’s eccentricities were not as pronounced. Nor was he a superstar like Bachchan. Yet, he always gets laughs. In fact, Ashok Kumar’s imitation is funnier to watch than Ashok Kumar’s own scenes. Just as ‘Weird Al’ Jankovic’s Like a Surgeon, a spoof of Madonna’s Like a Virgin, is more enjoyable than the real thing.

Two things about Ashok Kumar provide fodder to mimics. The way he spoke and his hand movements. His voice had a chesty, short-of-breath quality. In dramatic scenes, he would set the tempo with a few fast lines and deliver the finalé with a judicious mix of words, pitch and the trademark sigh. In the Hum Log epilogues, he would thrust his hands, index-finger pointed or all fingers splayed, to make a point or to match the rhythm of his chhan pakaiyya limericks.

Comedians say it is not difficult to do an Ashok Kumar. For a while, Suresh Menon only imitated fellow residents in his neighbourhood. He started doing actors when he heard a popular mimicry cassette by Johnny Lever, in the 1980s. A building where film stars live catches fire and they respond to the situation in their own distinct ways. He remembers: “The first actor I attempted was Sanjeev Kumar. Then I did Ashok Kumar too.”

Vikram Sathe says that for a successful impersonation, “Voice is the main thing. Then comes the way a person speaks. If you get that right, you can get away with the voice being only 60 or 70 per cent similar. People tell me I do a good Tony Greig. I tell them that I don’t do a good Tony Greig. My voice does not match his. But I have got the way he speaks—the pitch, the accent—right.”

Ashok Kumar’s career was long and successful. He acted in almost 300 films, produced and directed a few. Played every part—hero, villain, ‘character actor’ and, of course, sutradhar, the narrator, in Hum Log. However, he was not a part of the original plan of Hum Log. He came in because of the serial’s initial failure to impress viewers.

“Hum Log had an indirect message, not a direct one. It wasn’t an agitprop,” says Vinod Nagpal, who played Basesar Ram. “People were not up to grasping this hidden message. So the producers and writers thought of calling Ashok Kumar to sum things up at the end. It probably gave the series some star value as well.”

But Dadamoni was in his 70s then. His memory had flagged. “He couldn’t remember a line,” Nagpal says. “And there were no teleprompters those days. His lines would be written in a large size and placed in front of him.”

The rail gaadi would forget where it was headed. It would need to be reminded of its route and stops. But it could yet move. It still does. Not as frequently, but providing the same joy and enjoying the same recognisability.

Ashok Kumarcomedymimicry