Hamid Ali Khan (27 January 1922 – 22 October 1998), better known by his stage name Ajit, was an Indian actor active in Hindi films. He acted in over two hundred movies over a period of almost four decades.
Ajit is also credited for starring as a lead actor in popular Bollywood movies such as Beqasoor, , Bada Bhai, Milan, Bara Dari, and later as a second lead in Mughal-e-Azam and .
Early life Ajit was born as Hamid Ali Khan into a Muslim family of Shahjahanpur and was brought up in Hyderabad city. The family belonged to the Barozai clan of Pashtuns, Ajit's ancestors having moved from Kandahar in Afghanistan to Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh before settling down in Hyderabad. His father was a personal driver of Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan.
Career According to Ajit's son Shehzad when Ajit first arrived in Mumbai from Hyderabad, he had so little money that he lived in cement pipes on Mohammad Ali Road. Local gangsters controlled these makeshift shelters and demanded protection money, but Ajit refused to pay, fought back, and soon became so respected that no one dared trouble him. In fact, people began offering him free tea, snacks, and meals out of respect. Initially in his career, he struggled to meet people and be accepted in any film project, and in order to feed himself, he worked as an "extra" in several films. Finally, he managed to land a leading role, and in the first couple of films, he is credited by his real name, Hamid Khan. He did not meet with much success, and on the advice of Nana Bhai Bhat, he took the name "Ajit" meaning "indomitable" as his screen-name, but his luck did not greatly improve. Although he did several films as a protagonist and became known to the public, and although his distinctive baritone voice and impressive personality brought him a fan following, his luck at the box office was not good at all. Film director K. Amarnath, who directed him in Beqasoor, suggested that the actor change his long name of Hamid Ali Khan to something shorter, and Hamid zeroed in on "Ajit". Beqasoor (1950), in which he acted with Madhubala, was one of the biggest hits of 1950. Ajit's films as hero include (1953), Bada Bhai, Milan, Baradari (1955) and Dholak (1951) and in all of them, he did credible work as actor. In (1953), the song "Dekh tere sansar ki haalat kya ho gayi Bhagwan" is picturised on him. He moved soon afterwards to second-lead roles, which he accepted because he had no other source of income. These movies include and Mughal-e-Azam.
Ajit, who ran away from home to Mumbai after selling his college books, started his career in films in the 1940s. Luck did not favor him in the beginning. He began with the 1946 movie Shahe Misra, acting opposite Geeta Bose, and also did films such as Sikander (with Van Mala), Hatimtai (1947), Aap Beeti (with Khursheed), Sone Ki Chidiya (with Leela Kumari), Dholak (1951) (with Meena Shori) and Chanda Ki Chandni (with Monica Desai) as her leading hero, but flopped. He did the most films (15) with Nalini Jaywant. Ajit switched over to playing the villain. His first movie as a villain was Suraj, followed by films such as Zanjeer and Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973).
His famous dialogues included the "Mona darling" bit in Yaadon Ki Baraat, "Lily don't be silly" in Zanjeer and the one about a "Lion" in Kallicharan. Ajit's other well known films were , and Shikari to name only a few. In his four decades of film career, Ajit had acted along with the legendary Prithviraj Kapoor, Sohrab Modi, Amitabh Bachchan, I. S. Johar, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Dharmendra and many actresses, both young and old.
In the mid-seventies, he had acted in over 57 films, mostly as a villain. His dialogue delivery remains popular even to this date.
Acting style Ajit almost always portrayed the sophisticated, educated, well groomed evil mastermind, albeit heartless villain. Ajit was presented in striking western attire, the "bold" checked suits, matching overcoats, white leather shoes, wide sunglasses, jewellery accessories. Given his stature as a senior artist, Ajit was usually the gang leader to second tier villains (such as Jeevan, Prem Chopra, Ranjeet, Kader Khan and Sujit Kumar). He was rarely portrayed (in movie roles) doing any "dirty work" himself, rather relying on his army of henchmen for the task, with zero tolerance for any failures. He always had a savvy female accomplice, usually named "Mona." Acting in over 200 films, he specialized in playing suave villains with memorable catchphrases delivered in now iconic Ajit-style nasal drawls such as "Mona, darling". Ajit also brought to fame the smuggler as the villain. In his movies, he is generally seen smuggling gold biscuits in or out of the country. It has also been noted that most of his gang members had Christian names like Robert, Michael and Peter. He pronounced "Robert" as "Rabbert." This also has been used for comic purposes in parodies.
Personal life Ajit married three times. His first wife, whom he married after a brief love affair, was an Anglo-Indian and a Christian. The marriage was very short-lived and fell apart due to huge cultural differences and there were no children. Ajit married Shahida, a young lady of his own community and similar social background, in a match arranged by their parents in the usual Indian way. The marriage, which lasted till her death, was entirely harmonious and resulted in three sons, namely Shahid Ali Khan, Zahid Ali Khan and Abid Ali Khan. Ajit then married a third time, and the name of his third wife was Sara/Sarah. The actor Jayant (better known as the father of actor Amjad Khan) took the initiative to facilitate this marriage. Ajit has a further two sons by his third wife, named Shezad Khan and Arbaaz Khan.
Ajit had a strong friendship with actor Rajendra Kumar. Apart from friendship, Ajit also credited Rajendra Kumar with advising and helping him to become a "leading villain" rather than a second-lead hero. Rajendra Kumar was instrumental in getting Ajit his first role as the villain in the film Suraj.
Death and survivors Ajit died of a massive heart attack on 22 October 1998 in Hyderabad, India at the age of 76. His colleagues in the film industry — leading personalities who have acted with him, grew up seeing him in Mumbai — expressed deep sorrow over his death. Earlier in 1981, Ajit went into retirement after he underwent a heart by-pass surgery in the United States.
Indian writer Javed Akhtar, who scripted Zanjeer, said: "Like Bachchan, Ajit found a new image as villain after Zanjeer. He started a new innings in his career though he was an established hero in the fifties. His villainy started a new trend. Here was a new villain who was soft-spoken yet forceful. We wanted to give a different image to villainy which matched the hero".
Filmography + Acting Filmography Year Film Role1995 Criminal Jagdish Prasad1994 Gangster Chandulal Seth 1994 Aa Gale Lag Jaa Kalka Singh1994 Betaaj Badshah Khan Chacha1994 Aatish Uncle (Underworld Don)1993 Shaktiman Shamsher Singh / Tiger1993 Aadmi Trikaal1992 Jigar Baba Thakur (Karate Instructor)1992 Police Officer Dindayal "D. D."1985 Phaansi Ke Baad D.I.G. Surendranath1984 Raaj Tilak Bhavani Singh1984 Raja Aur Rana Teja / Heeralal1983 Daulat Ke Dushman Jagga Thakur1983 Razia Sultan Amil Balban1983 Mangal Pandey Lal Singh / Jaganlal1982 Chorni Shambhu Dada1981 Khoon Aur Paani Thakur Vikram Singh1981 Aakhri Mujra 1981 Amirchand1981 Khuda Kasam Raizada Hukamchand1980 Choron Ki Baaraat Dhanraj1980 Ram Balram Jaggu / Chowdhary Jagatpal1979 Heera-Moti Pratap Singh1979 Mr. Natwarlal Inspector Girdharilal1978 Aahuti C.B.I. Officer Harnam Prasad1978 Azaad Seema's Uncle1978 Des Pardes Gurnam1978 Heeralaal Pannalaal Kalicharan1978 Karmayogi Keshavlal1978 Ram Kasam Inspector Ajit Singh1977 Aakhri Goli 1977 Chalta PurzaCaptain Rajendra Behl1977 Ankh Ka Tara Ramlal1977 Hum Kisise Kum Naheen Sunita's Father (Guest Appearance)1976 Jaaneman Raja Sahib / Gulbahar Singh1976 Charas Kalicharan1976 Kalicharan Dindayal / Lion1976 Sangram Durjan1976 Rangilla Ratan Laxman Dada1975 Do Jhoot Nathulal 1975 Pratiggya Bharat Daku1975 Warrant Master1974 Badla Pratap / Randhir1974 Khote Sikkay Jangha1974 Paap Aur Punya Balvir Singh1974 Patthar Aur Payal Ajit Singh1973 Bandhe Hath Inspector Kumar / Pakkad Singh1973 Chhupa Rustam Vikram Singh1973 Dharma IG Ajit Singh1973 Jugnu Boss1973 Kahani Kismat Ki Premchand 1973 Shareef Budmaash Ranjit1973 Yaadon Ki Baaraat Shakeel1973 Zanjeer Dharam Dayal Teja1972 Dil Ka Raaja Thakur Gajendra Singh1972 Sultana Daku 1971 Raju's Father1971 Lal Patthar Raja Raghav Shankar Rai1971 Paraya Dhan Heeralal Daku1971 Patanga Kunwar Amar Singh1970 Heer Raanjha Heer's husband1970 Dharti Diwan1970 Jeevan Mrityu Harishchandra "Harish"1969 Aadmi Aur Insaan Kundanlal / Sher Singh1969 Prince Shamsher's Mamaji1968 Raja Aur Runk Hariya1967 Baghdad Ki Raatein 1966 Suraj Rajkumar Pratap Singh1965 Main Hoon Aladdin Aladdin1965 Namaste Ji 1963 Shikari 1963 Kabli Khan Kabli Khan1962 Burmah Road 1962 Tower House Suresh Kumar1962 Girls' Hostel 1961 Opera House Ajit Rai1960 Mughal-e-Azam Durjan Singh1960 Baraat Shyamu1959 Char Dil Char Rahen Dilawar1959 Guest House Amar1958 Mehndi 1957 Miss Bombay 1957 Bada Bhai 1957 Kitna Badal Gaya Insaan 1957 Krishna1956 26 January 1956 Aan Baan 1956 Durgesh Nandini 1956 Halaku Parvez1955 1955 Bara Dari Ajit Singh1955 Marine Drive Ajit1955 Naqab 1955 Shahzada 1955 Teerandaz 1954 Maan 1954 Anil Kapoor / Babaji1954 Samrat 1952 Anand Math 1952 Moti Mahal 1952 Tarang 1952 Vasna 1951 Daman 1951 Dholak 1951 Saiyan Vijay1951 Sarkar 1950 Beqasoor Brij1949 Jeevan Saathi 1949 Patanga 1945 Kurukshetra
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