Character actors are like nails and bolt without whose support a film would fall apart. Their roles might not be as lengthy or high-profile as the leading players but these are the characters that provide layers or gravitas to a script.

For the past 45 years, Avtar Kishan Hangal contributed to Hindi films with warmth, conviction and experienced demeanour as a fatherly/grandfatherly figure making him a recognized, reliable face of virtue. Before films, the Peshawar-born Kashmiri Pandit (February 1, 1917) was actively involved in the fight for India's freedom while making his living as a tailor. Following the partition, however, he decided to shift to Mumbai (then Bombay) where he joined the Leftist theatre group, Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and bonded with like-minded luminaries like Kaifi Azmi and Balraj Sahni over art and Marxism.

Around late sixties, he signed on to play a bit part in filmmaker Basu Bhattacharya's Teesri Kasambut it was his delivery as Saira Banu's whimsical father in I S Johar's frothy romance Shagird, that got the ball truly rolling. Although his cinematic career started only when he hit 50s, the Padma Bhushan recipient went on to work in more than 150 odd titles.

The actor who passed away on August 26 was 98 years old. Here's remembering the mild-mannered nonagenarian and some of his most memorable works.

-RSS