Asit Sen

Remembering Asit Sen, the famous Hindi film comedian of Yesteryears, on his 106th birth anniversary (13/05/1917).

Over the course of his career from 1953 to 1993, Sen directed two films and appeared in over 200 films. As an actor, he specialized in portraying characters of authority, such as police inspectors or landlords, in a comedic manner, often with a slow-speaking, deliberate delivery. He was particularly prolific in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, and was known for his very thin voice and imposing physical presence.

Sen began his career as an assistant to director-producer Bimal Roy in Kolkata. However, as the Kolkata film industry declined, Roy moved his team, including Sen, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Nabendu Ghosh, Kamal Bose, and later Salil Chaudhury, to Mumbai in 1950. After directing two films for Roy’s production house, Parivar (1956) and Apradhi Kaun (1957), Sen chose to focus on his career as an actor and became a popular comic performer who worked with many of the biggest names in the Hindi film industry. Today, on his birth anniversary, we remember his contributions to Indian cinema.

Asit Sen with Kishore Kumar.