Dilip Kumar: The original King Khan of Bollywood

Dilip Kumar as Devdas immortalised the line “Kaun kambakht bardast karne ko peeta hai, mein toh peeta hu ki saas le saku”. The 1955 film that spawned generations of tragic hero characters, will always be remembered for the emotion Dilip Kumar put in as an alcoholic trying to come out (or not) from the grief of his lost love. Many film aficionados strongly opine that many replicated but could not bring back the magic Dilip Kumar had spun with this character. Dilip Kumar died on July 7 at the age of 98.

Such was the power of the character Dilip Kumar played that reports started floating about his being drunk during the shooting. Years later Amrit Shah, the manager of the film’s director Bimal Roy, said in an interview with Mumbai Mirror, “Devdaas might be drunk but Dilip Kumar never was.”

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Born Muhammad Yusuf Khan in Pakistan’s Peshawar, Dilip Kumar was the original Khan of Bollywood. He is credited with bringing the concept of realistic cinema to the big screen much before it became a mainstay of the industry. With his subtle acting and powerful dialogue delivery, he mastered every role he played.

He is one of those rare actors who have a wide repertoire of roles–  from the understated prince of the iconic ‘Mughal-e Azam’ to the chirpy lad of Naya Daur to the fighter in Kranti, Dilip Kumar breathed life into characters he played.

‘Madhumati’, ‘Kohinoor’, ‘Ram aur Shyam’, ‘Ganga Jamuna’, ‘Andaz’, ‘Duniya’, ‘Karma’,  ‘Shakti’ are some of his films where he displayed the versatility of his talent — his calm demeanor and refined mannerism in some, chirpiness and disarming roguishness in others. He was also one of the most good-looking heroes of his time and needless to say the most popular among women.

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Such was his charm that his wife Saira Bano had decided at 21 that she would marry Dilip Kumar, who was 20 years elder to her. The actress, who fell in love with Kumar after watching his 1952 film ‘Aan’ , married him in 1966 when he was 44 and she was 22. “I had dreamt of only two things in life; to become famous like my mother and marry Dilip Sahab. Allah granted me both, what more could I ask for?” she said in one of her interviews.

Dilip Kumar has many firsts to his credit — the first actor to have won the Filmfare Best Actor Award (for his film ‘Daag’), the first actor to charge  Rs. 1 lakh per film, and a Guinness World Record Holder in 1982  for winning eight Filmfare awards for Best Actor.

Even years after Dilip Kumar stopped working, his magic remained, the body of his work continued to inspire generations of actors, right up to Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor. Amitabh Bachchan, who acted with Dilip Kumar in ‘Shakti’, in one of his social media posts, wrote how Kumar sent him compliments after his 2005 released film “Black”. He wrote, “Yusuf Khan ! .. the history of the Indian Film Industry shall always be referred to as ‘.. before Dilip Kumar, and after Dilip Kumar ..”

Actor Dharmendra, in one of his old interviews, said how he always had a dream of working with Dilip Kumar, which he came close to achieving with B.R Chopra ‘Chanakya Chandragupta’ but financial crisis halted the film.

The romantic hero of today’s time Shah Rukh Khan, who shares a close bond with Dilip Kumar, called the thespian, “pillar of Indian cinema”.

Dilip Kumar,  who was avoiding all social gatherings and public appearances after the pandemic started in 2020, has been staying indoors with his wife Saira Banu. He was recently discharged from the hospital.

So, here we are paying the last tribute to the last actor from Bollywood’s Golden era and like he said, “Ek Kranti Marega toh Hazaar Kranti Paida Hoga”.However, his void won’t be filled anytime soon.