Mumbai: The late actor AK Hangal, popularly known by his screen name ‘Rahim Chacha’ of the Sholay film, was a freedom fighter. He once revealed that he was one of the people from across the Indian subcontinent who signed a mercy petition for Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh.
A throwback video of the actor discussing his involvement with the Indian freedom struggle has resurfaced on social media.
He said in the video, “I was one of the people who signed a mercy petition in favour of Bhagat Singh to the Viceroy. But the Britishers didn’t pay attention to it, and he was martyred. There was a meeting of the Pathans that was held on the evening of March 23 when Bhagat Singh was hanged. The Pathans were crying inconsolably and recited a poem for him; the poem was in Pashto.”
He further mentioned, “That spirit of liberation turned me into a revolutionary, and later, I got involved with trade unionism and communism.”
Bhagat Singh’s fight for free India
In December 1928, Bhagat Singh and his associate, Shivaram Rajguru, shot dead a 21-year-old British police officer, John Saunders, in Lahore, Punjab, in present-day Pakistan. They mistook Saunders, who was still on probation, for the British senior police superintendent, James Scott, whom they had intended to assassinate.
Bhagat Singh and Rajguru were the members of a revolutionary group, the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.
He later took part in a largely symbolic bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and a hunger strike in jail.
Bhagat Singh was convicted of the murder of Saunders and was hanged in March 1931 at the age of 23. He became a popular folk hero after his death.
Hangal’s early life and foray into films
AK Hangal acted in successful films like Shagird, Parichay, and Garm Hava. He made his Hindi cinema debut at the age of 52 in 1966 with Basu Bhattacharya’s Teesri Kasam and Shagird. In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s films, he mostly portrayed a man of high values and the archetypal timid and oppressed elderly guy. He mostly played the on-screen father or uncle of the lead character.
His full name was Avtar Kishan Hangal. He was born in Sialkot, Punjab Province, British India (now Punjab, Pakistan), to a Kashmiri Pandit family. He grew up in Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, where he was involved in theatre.
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Hangal began his profession as a tailor in Peshawar. From 1929 to 1947, he was a committed player in India’s freedom struggle. He joined Shree Sangeet Priya Mandal, a theatrical organisation in Peshawar, in 1936 and performed in numerous shows across undivided India until 1946.
After his father retired, the family relocated from Peshawar to Karachi. During the freedom struggle, Hangal was imprisoned in Karachi for two years, from 1947 to 1949. After his release, he migrated to India and settled in Mumbai.
Once in Mumbai, he became involved with the theatre group IPTA. Between 1949 and 1965, he appeared in numerous plays in Indian theatres.
The veteran actor breathed his last in 1912 at the age of 98.
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–IANS & Media inputs
