Complex sentence: Pran and Ashok Kumar were very close friends in professional and real life and have acted in 27 films together from 1951--1987 starting from "Afsana" (1951).
Split into simpler sentences: Pran and Ashok Kumar were very close friends in professional and real life. They acted in 27 films together in 1951--1987 starting with "Afsana" (1951).