Is Jubilee’s Madan Kumar based on a real Bollywood actor?

Vikramaditya Motwane’s ‘Jubilee’ is a period drama set in the 1950s that explores the world of Hindi cinema from behind the curtains. Aparshakti Khurana plays the protagonist Binod Das in this web series, alongside Prasenjit Chatterjee, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sidhant Gupta and others. Binod is the loyal and trusted collaborator of Srikant Roy, the co-owner of Roy Talkies film studios. During pre-production of the studio’s new film, Sangharsh, Roy’s wife and lead actress, Sumitra Kumari, falls in love with his co-star Jamshed Khan, with disastrous consequences for everyone.

“Jubilee” features an exciting cast of characters with diverse storylines, all tied together by a single string. Binod, as Madan Kumar, stands at the center of this chain and affects nearly every other character’s storylines and character arcs. With the show’s premise inspired by real events, it’s natural to wonder if Madan Kumar’s character has a connection to reality as well. If you’re wondering the same, here’s everything we know about Madan Kumar and his potential relationship with all the real-life Bollywood actors. FRONT SPOILERS.

Is Madan Kumar based on a real Bollywood actor?

No, Madan Kumar is not completely based on a Bollywood actor. Instead, his character is partially but concretely inspired by Bollywood actor considered one of the greatest, Ashok Kumar. Like Madan Kumar in “Jubilee”, Ashok Kumar was also a stage name used by actor Kumudlal Kunjilal Ganguly. The story behind Binod Das’ road to fame as Madan Kumar is also inspired by the life of Ashok Kumar.

Ashok Kumar’s role in his 1935 debut film “Jeevan Naiya” was originally given to another actor named Najam-Ul-Hasan. However, before the filming of this film began, the latter ran away and fled with his co-star, Devika Rani. Apart from being a renowned actress, she was also the wife of Himanshu Rai, with whom she co-owned the film studio Bombay Talkies. After Devika was brought back to Himanshu with the help of his faithful friend, Sashadhar Mukherjee, Rai discovered a new talent in Bombay Talkies’ lab assistant: Kumudlal Kunjilal Ganguly aka Ashok Kumar, Mukherjee’s brother-in-law .

The similarity between this real-life love triangle and the subsequent birth of a Bollywood legend is very clearly used as inspiration in “Jubilee.” Nevertheless, the similarities between Madan Kumar and Ashok Kumar do not go much further after this singular example. When creating the characters and storylines for “Jubilee”, showrunner Vikramaditya Motwane wanted to create a world that would pay homage to the Hindi cinema scene of the 1940s and 1950s without directly recreating it.

In an interview, when talking about his characters, Motwane said, “Yes, there are a lot of Easter eggs planted all over the place, but the homage comes from a sense of nostalgia like, oh, this character may be based on such and such but also looks like such and such, but also feels like such and such. It’s deliberate, to evoke that feeling of nostalgia. Otherwise, they are all unique personalities that could have been there at the time.

While Motwane instilled many references to certain Bollywood actors with the character of Madan Kumar, ultimately he did not intend to tell an individual’s non-fictional life story. With themes of moral ambiguity, dangerous ambition, and blind faith explored through Binod/Madan’s underdog persona, entering the series is best viewed as a blank slate.

Madan Kumar’s career is inspired by the history of Hindi cinema, but it is not entirely based on any particular personality. Its history, which revolves around establishing relations with the USSR, for example, resembles the popularity of Raj Kapoor in the country. Nonetheless, Madan Kumar’s character and personality are mostly fictional, with the occasional inspiration drawn from real life.

Read more: Is Prime’s Jubilee based on a true story?