A.K.Hangal was born on 15 August 1914, in a Kashmiri Pundit family in his maternal grandfather’s house in Sialkot. His ancestors had left Kashmir centuries back and migrated to Peshawar. His father pundit Hari Kashan Hangle was a government servant and his mother Ragia Hundoo died when he was only five years old. He received his primary education in an Islamic institution in Sialkot. Later, he was shifted to Khalsa High school run by Sikhs near his house. At home, he was indoctrinated in Hindu beliefs, values, and traditions. As a result, from a very young age, Hangal’s mental makeup became quite liberal and infused with equal respect for all religions.
Hangal was a man with a committed ideology, a champion of human rights, an active participant in the Indian freedom struggle, and a bold trade union worker who never compromised with his principles throughout his life. He was a messiah of the downtrodden and underprivileged who devoted his whole life to an undaunted struggle and sacrifice for securing certain basic human values for his countrymen. It was due to her selfless service that he succeeded in carving out a special place in society.
While Hangal was in school in 1930, he witnessed the Pathan peasants in red shirts (Khudai Khidmatgars) led by Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan (Frontier Gandhi) protesting against the death sentence pronounced to the revolutionaries - Bhagat Singh, Raj guru, and Shukhdev by the British government. The very sight of this procession ignited the spark of patriotism in the young mind of Hangal.
Thereafter, he became a part of the signature campaign of the mercy petition drafted for the commutation of the death sentence to the revolutionaries. However, the British hanged all three patriots. The news of their execution by the British spread like a wildfire and surcharged the political ambiance of the region. Hangal participated in the massive demonstration led by Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan against this inhuman act of the British government and pelted stones at the European soldiers. Although his father, being a government servant, instructed him not to participate in any anti-British demonstration, he did not pay any heed and actively participated in the movement.
He began to wear Khadi clothes and became a staunch nationalist. However, the government crushed the resistance with full force. In order to control the agitating mob, the British government first called the Garhwali Regiment. However, upon finding the native soldiers reluctant to follow their command, the British government acted brutally. They called European soldiers who opened fire and killed the peaceful demonstrators in the streets of Peshawar.
Hangal was so moved by these gruesome events that he completely changed his life mission. He somehow managed to pass the matriculation examination in 1932 and left his studies to join the freedom struggle on the call of Gandhi, much against the wishes of his father who wanted him to join government services as per the traditions of his family. He also joined a theater group in Peshawar in 1936 and started participating in many patriotic plays. In 1940, the family shifted to Karachi from Peshawar for medical treatment of his father where his brother-in-law Pundit Brijnath Shiv Puri was staying.
In 1946, he returned to Kashmir to see the land of his ancestors and witnessed the Quit Kashmir movement which further strengthened his resolve to actively participate against the British Imperial forces.
To make a living, he started his tailoring shop but could not do much. He then started a cultural organization called Harmonica Club which used to organize musical evenings and staging shows written by him on the themes associated with Gandhian ideals.
During the Second World War, he came in contact with a politically conscious Sindhi professor and his discussions with him on international affairs changed the course of his entire life. He, under the guidance of Professor Karwani, got influenced by dominant contemporary ideas of communism and joined the Friends of Soviet Union Society. Further, he became an active member of the Communist Party of India and started working with the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). He organized the workers of tailoring shops, toured the entire country, and participated in meetings and demonstrations.
His leadership qualities and oratory skills impressed the party leaders and were given the charge of Secretary of the Karachi branch of the CPI in 1946. It was in the same year, that the Royal British Naval mutiny revolt started against the superior British officers in Karachi, along with I.K. Guzral instigated the navy men against the British authorities. The Communist party also gave a call for a general strike. Further, he was jailed by the British on the charge of sedition for two years. When he came out of jail in 1948, India had already been partitioned.
Being a Hindu, Hangal was deported to India. He reached Bombay with no money in his pocket, started his life from the scratch, joined a prestigious tailoring shop as a chief cutter, and continued his passion for theatre. Meanwhile, the Indian government banned the activities of CPI but somehow he secretly managed to continue his activities and worked for the trade union. The owner of the church gate tailoring shop removed him from the job due to the fears of his involvement in trade union activities.
Hangal worked with important leaders like S.M. Joshi, and S.A. Dange and also actively participated in the freedom struggle of Goa in 1962. During the struggle, he narrowly escaped the police firing while participating in the demonstrations in Bombay. Later, he joined the Bombay unit of the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) – A creative wing of the CPI, and propagated communist ideology through Performing Arts. He worked under the direction of Ritwik Ghatak and understood the finer techniques of the theatre and became one of the popular stage artists of his times.
Later, he joined the film industry under the direction of his close associate Basu Bhattacharya in 1962 and his career in films gradually reached heights. In 1978, on the occasion of Indian independence day, he was sent with the Indian delegation to the Soviet Union.
A man with a committed nationalist ideology, and a veteran freedom fighter, Hangal always led a simple frugal life without any extravagance. Hangal’s contribution as a nationalist is unparalleled.