Ashok Kumar was Born in Allahabad , North-Western Provinces , British India , to Kedarnath Aggarwal , a Hindi poet . He was passionate about cinema right from his childhood despite his family not being connected to films . After obtaining a diploma in photography from the Allahabad University , he decided to join a film institute in order to pursue a career in filmmaking . Although his family was initially not supportive of his decision , he was allowed to go to Madras rather than Bombay . He gained an admission at the Institute of Film Technology , ( now Film and Television Institute of Tamil Nadu ) Adyar , for a course in motion photography . At the institute , he was exposed to World cinema including that of Satyajit Ray 's . After passing out of the institute , he made his debut as a cinematographer in the 1969 Malayalam film '' Janmabhoomi '' . John Sankaramangalam , his teacher at the institute , was its director . The film was funded by Ashok Kumar along with a few of his batchmates at the institute . The film dealt with the theme of religious co-existence and won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration at the 16th National Film Awards . 1st Kerala State Film Awards , Ashok Kumar was awarded the Best Cinematography for the film . Following that , he received several offers in Malayalam for directors such as P. N. Menon , Babu Nanthankode , J. Sasikumar , Ramu Kariat and Bharathan . His involvement with the Malayalam film industry in the 1970s , earned him two more state government awardsfor '' Swapnam '' ( 1973 ) and '' Taxi Driver '' ( 1977 )
16th National Film Awards
16th National Film Awards
Ashok Kumar (cinematographer)