Dilip Kumar, the most outstanding actor Indian cinema has ever produced, is no more. He passed away of old age complications and also from the last stages of pancreatic cancer that slowly ate into his body and then, his life.
Born Mohammed Yusuf Khan into a family settled in Qissa Khawani Bazaar area of Peshawar, then a part of British India which later became a part of Pakistan, the young boy never thought of cinema as a career. He was a true “outsider” in the Bombay film industry. Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand, who formed a golden triumvirate with Dilip Kumar in the 1940s through the 1960s, were also from Peshawar. But while their families were linked to films such as Raj Kapoor’s father Prithviraj Kapoor who ran his own theatre company and Chetan Anand, Dev Anand’s eldest brother who was an actor and director, Dilip Kumar had no roots in cinema. It happened by sheer an accident of fate.
He ran a small fruit shop in Pune opposite a military camp and also ran the camp canteen. Once, Devika Rani, then co-owner of the famous Bombay Talkies approached him and asked him if he was interested in working in films. He did not seem interested. So, Devika Rani presented him with the golden apple – he would be earning three times the money he was earning as a fruit seller. He bit that apple, came to Bombay and played the hero in the Bombay Talkies film Jwar Bhata (1944). The film was directed by Amiya Chakravarty. But the film did not turn him into a hero. It was Jugnu (1947) after the two films just before this one, namely, Pratima (1945) and Milan (1946). Naseem Banu played the heroine opposite him in Jugnu and the film was a big hit, turning Dilip Kumar into a star overnight.
In 1948, Kumar had five releases including Ghar Ki Izzat, the war drama Shaheed, Mela and Anokha Pyar. His last release in 1948 was Nadiya Ke Paar which turned out to become the biggest box office hits in 1949. That year he also acted in Mehboob Khan’s Andaz alongside Raj Kapoor and Nargis which turned out to be a hit turning Dilip Kumar into the hottest selling star of the time.
All eyes in the audience in the darkened theatres moistened with tears when in the final scene in Shaheed (1948), his fourth film, directed by Sasadhar Mukherjee, the hero, dies. In this film, Dilip Kumar demonstrated his total commitment to his work. In the final scene, Dilip Kumar’s martyred corpse was taken out in procession against the lines of the famous song, Watan ke raah mein watan ke naujawan shaheed ho.
This film crowned Dilip Kumar as the “tragedy king” as he went on living up to the sobriquet in one film after another – Andaz, Footpath, Shikast, Mela, Babul, Deedar and Uran Khatola. Tragedy on celluloid became his identity. A time came when his producers felt that if he did not die at the end of the film, his fans felt betrayed! He realised that being typecast as tragedy king could become self-defeating as an actor. He took pains to consult a psychoanalyst who suggested he change his screen image to reflect a more swash-buckling, romantic side in order to discover avenues of histrionics he had not explored till then.
He turned to lighter roles. Dilip Kumar stood out without any stereotypical label attached though many have labelled him “Tragedy King” which is not true because he proved himself equally in lighter roles such as in Azaad, Aan, Kohinoor, and many others.
His romantic screen presence was overwhelmingly magnetic and made every female in the audience identify with his lady-love. He had a naughty smile when he would crinkle up his eyes and smile mischievously at his lady love. This marks his ability to command romance in characters such as the ones he portrayed in Naya Daur, Leader, Ram Aur Shyam, Azaad, Kohinoor, Aan, Gunga-Jumna, Insaaniyat and many more. The crown of “Tragedy King” he was made to wear is too limiting for an actor of his range not only in terms of his histrionic talent but also in his popularity among his huge fan following. His love scenes are memorable more for what he left unsaid than what he actually said.
Dilip Kumar’s portrayal of Devdas in the Bimal Roy adaptation of the classic is considered to be the best ever Devdas in this film made in around 18 versions over time. When Devdas was being made, Dilip Kumar was already established as one of the top among the triumvirate – Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand. Devdas shows Dilip Kumar, where, in the title role, he invests the literary character with his personal chemistry as an actor par excellence. He took a break from films when his hero image was steadily fading but came back with a bang in Manoj Kumar’s Kranti (1981) and Ramesh Sippy’s Shakti (1981) and more such films like Saudagar, Vidhaata and Karm in which he proved he was not to be underestimated. These films also brought him several awards.
His autobiography, The Substance and the Shadow, (2014) an as-told-to narrative written by his raakhi sister and noted editor Udaya Tara Nayar reveals what a voracious reader Dilip Kumar, behind the grease paint and the costumes was. Says Saira Banu in her enlightening foreword to the book, “His knowledge of the contents of the Holy Quran and his recitation of the verses retained indelibly in memory from childhood are no less brilliant than his knowledge and recitation of the Sanskrit verses in the Bhagvad Gita.”
Saira Banu recollects, “If not the biographies or classics or master plot plays by great writers like Eugene O’Neill, Joseph Conrad, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Tennessee Williams, he is sure to be engrossed in the writing of a script or a scene that waits to be picturised the next day morning.” He was also passionate about listening to music. He loved to listen to great maestros such as Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Sahab, Begum Shamshad Abdul Waheed Khan (Ammaji), sitar maestro Vilayat Khan Sahab, and noted musicians and singers like Ghulam Ali Sahab, Ustad Mehdi Hasan and the Sabri Brothers. And like a child, he also loved to fly kites.
He won the maximum number of awards and titles for his performances and his rich contribution to Hindi cinema. With 61 films over 58 years the awards really made no difference to his commitment to his performances where he did not sign more than one film a year and charged Rs.1 lakh per film to cut down on his assignments as many producers would not be able to pay him so much.
For older generations who have passed yonder, Dilip Kumar will remain the most versatile actor who ever walked the path of Indian cinema. For those who have not watched his films such as generations of tomorrow, he will live on through his films as a legend to look up to, to learn from and to enjoy his versatility as an actor, and a human being of many parts.
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Shoma A. Chatterji
Shoma A. Chatterji is a freelance journalist, film scholar and author. She has authored 17 published titles and won the National Award for Best Writing on Cinema, twice. She won the UNFPA-Laadli Media Award, 2010 for ‘commitment to addressing and analysing gender issues’ among many awards.
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