Ashok Kumar

Ashok Kumar Aggarwal (circa 1941 22 October 2014) was an Indian cinematographer who worked mainly in the South Indian film industry. In a career that spanned nearly four decades, he worked in over 125 feature films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Hindi languages. Aggarwal was a member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC). Born in Allahabad to a Hindi poet, Ashok Kumar obtained a diploma in photography from the Allahabad University. His passion for cinema made him enroll for a course in motion picture photography at the Institute of Film Technology, Adyar, Chennai. Upon passing out of the institute, he made his cinematic debut with the 1969 Malayalam film Janmabhoomi for which he was awarded that year's Kerala State Film Award for Best Cinematography. His association with P. N. Menon in the early 1970s cemented his place in the Malayalam film industry. He also worked for other filmmakers such as Babu Nanthankode, J. D. Thottan, Bharathan, N. Sankaran Nair and Ramu Kariat. He got his break in Tamil cinema with Mahendran's Uthiripookkal (1979). He was associated with Mahendran in most of his films. Apart from several state government awards, Ashok Kumar was also a recipient of the National Film Award for Best Cinematography. During his career, he also directed ten feature films in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. He was married and one of his sons, Akash Aggarwal, works as a cinematographer in Tamil films. Biography Ashok Kumar was born in Allahabad, North-Western Provinces, British India, to Kedarnath Aggarwal, a Hindi poet. He was passionate about cinema right from his childhood despite his family not being connected to films. After obtaining a diploma in photography from the Allahabad University, he decided to join a film institute to pursue a career in filmmaking. Although his family was initially not supportive of his decision, he was allowed to go to Madras rather than Bombay. He gained an admission at the Institute of Film Technology, (now Film and Television Institute of Tamil Nadu) Adyar, for a course in motion photography. At the institute, he was exposed to World cinema including that of Satyajit Ray's. After passing out of the institute, he made his debut as a cinematographer in the 1969 Malayalam film Janmabhoomi. John Sankaramangalam, his teacher at the institute, was its director. The film was funded by Ashok Kumar along with a few of his batchmates at the institute.