The name Mohammed Yusuf Khan Peshawari may not ring a bell with many but Dilip Kumar does – not just as one of the trinity along with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand but also as one of the greatest actors on the Indian celluloid. Born on 11 December 1922, the first Khan of Indian cinema went on to earn the sobriquet of ‘Tragedy King’ in a career that lasted more than 75 years.
There are not enough words that can encapsulate Dilip Kumar and his work succinctly. His career, stuff folklores are made of, can be broadly divided into two parts where in the first he essentially essayed tragic roles through Andaaz, Mela, Deedar, Jogan, Aarzoo, Babul, Tarana, Footpath, Devdas, Daag and Shikast to name a few and then went on to shift seamlessly into playing lighter and comic roles in Aazad, Kohinoor Naya Daur, Ram aur Shyam. He was equally consummate in other genres like Aan, Urankhatola, Mughal-e-Azam, Madhumati, Gunga Jamuna, Gopi and Sagina. Nothing was beyond his ken whether he played the lead or character role. His signature style of mumbling his dialogues while giving myriad expressions and meanings to lines that his characters uttered made him Dilip Kumar first and last.
Coming from a large, joint family, his father ran a wholesale fruit shop to feed so many mouths and a young Dilip Kumar was expected to keep that legacy but destiny had something else in store. The journey from Peshawar to the shores of Mumbai before the Partition took a turn with Jwarbhata, his maiden venture in 1944. Shaheed and Jugnu (1946 & 1948) stamped his authority in the craft. It was Devika Rani who christened him Dilip Kumar.
With a string of tragic roles that he did with earnestness, he himself lapsed into depression and to shake it off, he was advised lighter roles. The first to win Filmfare Best Actor Award for Daag, he won it seven times again, paired with almost all leading actresses of his time. Most of his films in the 1950s were high grossers and Dilip Kumar commanded the fees that he fancied. Among his many firsts, in 1961, he produced, wrote and starred in Ganga Jamuna. It won accolades at Boston Film Festival and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Legend has it that he was also offered the lead role in Lawrence of Arabia, a role that went to Peter O’ Toole.
He was the Angry Old Man much before his self-proclaimed admirer Amitabh Bachchan started as the Angry Young Man. Confident of his craft, he did not hesitate to rub shoulders with his illustrious counterparts like Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Raj Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan. However, while he projected himself as an understated but careful actor, he tended to get melodramatic after the 1970s. With a vast repertoire – not to forget his duet with Lata Mangeshkar (Musafir-1957) and films with almost every leading lady — it was only natural that he got the Lifetime Achievement Award, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Made the Sheriff of Bombay, his home soil (in Pakistan) conferred its highest civilian award of Nishan-e-Imtiaz.
He briefly dabbled in politics and served as Rajya Sabha member. A linguist of sorts, his diction and articulation was impeccable. His personal life was no less eventful. After he married his smitten fan Saira Banu, then 22 years younger than him, he courted controversy by marrying “Asma”. Even hardened fans believed this was a transgression but Dilip Kumar managed to extricate himself from the unseemly row and the marriage. Besides, there were many who found him overbearing as he was accused of interfering in the director’s work.
A popularity unmatched in the subcontinent, he was awarded the “Greatest Actor of All Time Award” and the Guinness for receiving highest number of awards. His house in Peshawar is now a national heritage. He was buried with full state honours. President Ramnath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid him rich tributes.