Tragedy King Dilip Kumar left for heavenly abode!

Legendary actor #MohammadYusufKhan aka #DilipKumar expired on 07.07.21 at the ripe age of 98. His demise has left a void in the #IndianFilmIndustry. Dilip kumar was admitted to the #HindujaHospital in #Khar #Mumbai a few weeks back for breathlessness and succumbed to old age related issues, informed his Physician, Dr Jalil Parkar. For the last dew years Dilip Saab was in and out of hospital for numerable times and just last night his wife, yesteryear actress, Saira Banu thanked everybody who was enquiring about his health. Sadly Dilip Kumar breathed his last and his wife and close family members were with him during his last time.

Dilip Kumar, who was born in Peshawar, now in Pakistan, always was interested in performing arts and did rounds of studios. For survival he used to sell fruits at the Crawford Market. Dilip Kumar got his first break in Jwaar Bhata in 1944. Since then he has been part of innumerable films and most of them being hits. His acting compelled many to throng to the theatres those days and he was an idol of many, including film industry people. Dilip Kumar was famous for his method acting but he did not have any formal training in it. He became a star performer and in fact almost all the actors of that era used to copy his style of acting or used to copy him in toto. Rajendra Kumar and Manoj Kumar were successful stars who allegedly used to copy him in toto. Bollywood’s ‘Shehanshah’ Amitabh Bachchan and Bollywood’s ‘Baadshah’ Shahrukh Khan too have openly admitted for being inspired by Dilip Saab’s acting.

In fifties and sixties there were no acting schools so the only acting school available for actors and newcomers was Dilip Kumar’s films. Dilip Kumar was a voracious reader and he self taught acting after reading books on performing arts across the world. He did a lot of intense films and was called ‘Tragedy King’. He was proficient in Urdu, Hindi, Parsi Gujarati and English too. Dilip Kumar was offered a famous Hollywood film ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ but he refused and the role went to Omar Sharif who became an overnight Hollywood star. But Dilip Saab never regretted his decision as he was more interested in entertaining his own people back home. Andaz, Aan, Daag, Azaad, Devdas, Ganga Jamuna, Ram Aur Shyam, Mughal-e-Azam are a very few of his films which were super hits as a leading man. He shifted to character roles with Manoj Kumar’s Kranti. Later he gave memorable performances in Shakti, Karma, Saudagar, Mashal etc. His last screen role was in Qila in 1998 and later the health did nor permit him to visit sets for longer hours.

In olden times Dilip Kumar and Madhubala had an torrid affair and were to get married. But differences with her family, especially her father, Dilip Kumar opted out of the relationship and later married Saira Banu who is almost two decades younger to him. But they stayed married for the last 55 years. There was only one hiccup in their happy married life. A woman called Asma came in Dilip Kumar’s life and he married her clandestinely. Dilip-Saira’s marriage was on the rocks for a few years. But later he divorced Asma after three years of Nikaah with her.

Dilip Kumar was felicitated with numerous awards including National honours like Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan. He was the first actor to bag Filmfare’s Best Actor trophy. Even Pakistan felicitated him with their highest civilian honour Nishan-e-Imtiaz. After Dilip Kumar returned from Pakistan after receiving that award Late Balasaheb Thackeray had sent his shiv-sainiks at Dilip Kumar’s bungalow (as Pakistan was/is considered an enemy country) to protest against him for accepting that award. In fact all the shiv-sainiks were in their under garments. This happened in spite of Dilip Kumar and Balasaheb being friends for a long long time.

As the Dilip Kumar’s demise’s  news started pouring in, the entire country was mourning. PM, President, Vice President, Maharashtra CM and other top political leaders paid condolences on social media. Almost entire film industry too showed grief at the legend’s death. As Dilip Kumar was awarded Padma Vibhushan, country’s second highest civilian award and he was buried at Juhu Kabristan in the evening, with State honours.

RIP Mohammad Yusuf Khan aka Dilip Kumar.