Avtar Kishan Hangal, better known as AK Hangal, was an Indian freedom fighter-turned-actor. Born on February 1, 1914 in Sialkot in a Kashmiri Pandit family, he spent his early years in Peshawar. He learnt tailoring and even began participating in multiple plays.
Hangal was also an active partcipant in the Indian freedom movement from 1929 to 1947. He stayed back in Pakistan after the partition, but was jailed in Karachi for two years from 1947 to 1949 because of his communist idelogies. Recalling his days in the jail and how he came to India, AK Hangal told Rediff.
com in an interview in 2006, "After the Partition, I stayed back in Pakistan but I was arrested because of communist ideologies. I spent two years in jail. I was beaten regularly because I would resist everything from bad food to bad civic facilities.
I was asked to leave Pakistan and go to India. But how could I leave the place and culture where I was born? One day, Muslim seniors from my party told me to go to India and start party work there, as I was the only Hindu among them. I was given 12 hours to leave Pakistan.
" He further added, "I wanted to go to New Delhi to my sister but I had no money. I came to Mumbai with Rs 20 in my pocket. I was 21 years old then.
I met some friends from Karachi and they took care of my family and me. Soon, I got a job as a tailor and was paid Rs 500 per month. Those days in 1949, this was a huge amount.
I used to have rich customers like the nawab of Pataudi and Britishers." In 19.