Dilip Kumar (born
Muhammad Yusuf Khan on 11 December 1922) is an Indian film actor also known as
Tragedy King,
[1] and described as "the ultimate method actor" by
Satyajit Ray.
[2] He debuted as an actor in the film
Jwar Bhata in 1944 produced by
Bombay Talkies. His career has spanned over six decades and with over 60 films. He starred in films of a variety of genres such as the romantic
Andaz (1949), the swashbuckling
Aan (1952), the dramatic
Devdas (1955), the comical
Azaad (1955), the historical
Mughal-e-Azam (1960) and the social
Ganga Jamuna (1961).
In 1976, Dilip Kumar took a five-year break from film performances and returned with a character role in the film
Kranti (1981) and continued his career playing leading roles in films such as
Shakti (1982),
Karma (1986) and
Saudagar (1991). His last film was
Qila(1998).
[3][4]
Early life[edit]
Around 1940, while still in his teens and after an altercation with his father, Dilip Kumar left home for Pune. With the help of an Iranian cafe owner, and an elderly Anglo-Indian couple, Kumar met a canteen contractor Taj Mohammad Shah, an acquaintance of his father from Peshawar days. Without letting on his family antecedents, he got the job on the merit of his knowledge of good written and spoken English. He managed to set up a sandwich stall at the army club and when the contract ended he headed home to Bombay having saved Rs. 5000.
[13] In 1942, anxious to start some venture to help out his father with household finances, he met Dr. Masani at
Churchgate Station, who asked him to accompany him to
Bombay Talkies, in
Malad. Here he met actress
Devika Rani, owner of Bombay Talkies, who asked him to sign up with the company on a pay of Rs. 1250 per year.
[14] Here he met actor
Ashok Kumar who was to influence his acting style telling him to act "natural". He also met
Sashadhar Mukherjee, and both these people became very close to Kumar over the years. Initially, Kumar helped out in the story-writing and scripting department because of his proficiency in Urdu language. Devika Rani requested to change his name from Yousuf to
Dilip Kumar, and later cast him in a lead role for the film
Jwar Bhata (1944), which marked Dilip Kumar's entry into the Hindi film industry.
[14]
Nargis, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar in a scene from the film
Andaz.
Dilip Kumar's first film,
Jwar Bhata (1944) went unnoticed, it was
Jugnu (1947) in which he starred alongside
Noor Jehan that became his first major hit at the box office. His next major hit was the 1948 film
Shaheed. He got his breakthrough role with
Mehboob Khan's
Andaz(1949) in which he starred alongside
Raj Kapoor and
Nargis in a love triangle story.
Shabnam also released that year was also a hit.
He went on to have success in the 1950s with playing leading roles in romantic films like
Jogan (1950),
Tarana (1951)
Hulchul (1951)
Deedar (1951),
Aan (1952)
Daag (1952),
Uran Khatola (film) Devdas (1955),
Yahudi (1958) and
Madhumati (1958). He also played an anti-hero in Mehboob Khan's
Amar (1954).In the films he was cast opposite Noor Jehan and Kamini Kaushal, it was female lead whose name would appear first in credits and female actress were paid more than him. These films established his screen image as the "Tragedy King". He also starred in many social drama films like
Footpath (1953),
Naya Daur (1957),
Musafir (1957) and
Paigham (1959). He was the first actor to win the
Filmfare Best Actor Award for
Daag and went on to win it a further seven times in his career.
[15] He formed popular on-screen pairings with many of the top actresses at the time including
Madhubala,
Vyjayanthimala,
Nargis,
Nimmi,
Meena Kumari,
Saroja Devi and
Kamini Kaushal. In an attempt to shed his "tragedy king" image, Dilip Kumar took up his psychiatrist's suggestion that he take on lighthearted roles. In Mehboob Khan's blockbuster musical
Aan(1952) he played a
swashbuckling peasant in what marked his first film in
technicolor. He co-starred with
Devanand in Insaniyat in 1955 and with
Rajkumar in Paigham in 1959. He had further success with lighter roles as a thief in
Azaad (1955) and a royal prince in
Kohinoor (1960)
[15] In 1960 he portrayed
Prince Salim in
K. Asif's big-budget epic
historical film Mughal-e-Azam which as of 2008 was the second highest grossing film in Hindi film history.
[16] The film told the story of Prince Salim who revolts against his father Akbar (played by
Prithviraj Kapoor) and falls in love with a courtesan (played by
Madhubala). The film was mostly shot in black and white, only some scenes in the latter half of the film in colour. 44 years after its original release, it was fully
colourized and re-released in 2004.
Kohinoor and Mughal E Azam, both were blockbusters in 1960. In 1961, he produced and starred in
Ganga Jamuna in which he starred opposite his frequent leading lady, Vyjayanthimala and his brother
Nasir Khan, this was the only film he produced. In 1962 British director
David Lean offered him the role of "Sherif Ali" in his film
Lawrence of Arabia(1962), but Dilip Kumar declined to perform in the movie.
[17] The role eventually went to
Omar Sharif, the Egyptian actor. Dilip Kumar comments in his much later released autobiography, "he thought Omar Sharif had played the role far better than he himself could have".
[18] His next film
Leader (1964) was a below average grosser at the box office.
[19] He was the co-director alongside
Abdul Rashid Kardar of his next release
Dil Diya Dard Liya in 1966 but was uncredited as director. The critics were of opinion that the film was slow paced and whole film was a let down and only positive point of the film was
Pran's performance. In 1967 Kumar played a
dual role of
twins separated at birth in the hit film
Ram Aur Shyam. In 1968 he starred alongside
Manoj Kumar and
Waheeda Rehman in
Aadmi.Again when the film Sangarsh released, critics praised
Sanjeev Kumar's performance and said Sanjeev outdid Dilip performance wise.In the period, 1960 to 1970, Dilip and Raj Kapoor did not enjoy as much success in films and their popularity reduced. Actors Ashok Kumar, Devanand, Pran, Rajendra Kumar continued to enjoy more success even in 1960's to 1980s in comparison to Dilip and Raj Kapoor.
His career slumped in the 1970s with films like
Dastaan (1972) and
Bairaag (1976), the latter in which he played triple roles failing at the box office. He starred alongside his real-life wife Saira Banu in
Gopi (1970) which was success,
Bengali film
Sagina Mahato (1970) and
Bairaag (1976) but both failed to do well at the box office.
[20][21] Though his performance in Bairaag and Gopi were critically acclaimed, he lost many film offers to act in lead roles to actors Rajesh Khanna and Sanjeev Kumar from 1968-1987.He took a five-year hiatus from films from 1976 to 1981.
[22]
His second collaboration with Subhash Ghai came with the 1986 action film
Karma. In this film, Kumar played a jailor who hires three men (played by
Naseeruddin Shah,
Jackie Shroff and
Anil Kapoor) to help him avenge his family's death by escaped terrorist Doctor Dang (played by
Anupam Kher). This was also the first film which paired him opposite veteran actress
Nutan.
[23]
In 1991, he starred alongside fellow veteran actor
Raaj Kumar in
Saudagar, his third and last film with Subhash Ghai. This was his second film with Raaj Kumar after 1959's
Paigham.
Saudagar was Kumar's last box office success and also his last film for several years.
[24] In 1993 he won the
Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. He was attached to make his directorial debut with a film titled
Kalinga but the film was eventually shelved.
[25]
In 1998 he made his last film appearance in
Qila, where he played dual roles as an evil landowner who is murdered and his twin brother who tries to solve the mystery of his death.
India Today in their review dismissed Kumar's dialogue delivery out of sync.
[26]
Other career highlights[edit]
- Kumar was very choosy, and turned down lead roles in many films which eventually were released to great box office success, including Lawrence of Arabia, Pyaasa andSangam.[28][29]
- Several of his films remain unreleased and unfinished such as Jaanwar, Shikwa and Aag Ka Dariya.[30]
- One of his unfulfilled wishes was he never got opportunity to star opposite Rajesh Khanna in any film.
- During his career, Kumar was most often voiced Mukesh from 1948 to 1958 and later by Mohammed Rafi till 1976. Others who provided his voice include Talat Mahmood.In 1970s Dilip Kumar career had slumped and to cash in on popularity of Kishore Kumar, Kishore was chosen to do playback of the song "Saala Main To Saab Bangaya" and for duet Tumre Sang Toh for the film Sagina (film) (1974).
- It is opposite actress Vyjanthimala and Kamini Kaushal, that he has the maximum box office hits.
- He sang a song, 'Laagi nahi chhoote raama chaahe jiya jaaye' with Lata Mangeshkar in a movie 'Musafir'.
Public life[edit]
Dilip Kumar was nominated as Indian National Congress Candidate from Maharashtra State as member of
Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament for a term 03/04/2000 to 02/04/2006.
[31]
He was awarded the
Dadasaheb Phalke Award[32] in 1994. In 1998 he was awarded the
Nishan-e-Imtiaz, the highest civilian award conferred by the government of Pakistan. He is the second Indian to receive the award. At the time of the
Kargil War,
Shiv Sena chief
Bal Thackeray demanded Dilip Kumar return his
Nishan-e-Imtiaz, citing "that country's blatant aggression on Indian soil."
[33] Dilip Kumar refused, saying:
"This award was given to me for the humane activities to which I have dedicated myself. I have worked for the poor, I have worked for many years to bridge the cultural and communal gaps between India and Pakistan. Politics and religion have created these boundaries. I have striven to bring the two people together in whatever way I could. Tell me, what does any of this have to do with the Kargil conflict?"
[34]
Dilip Kumar launched his Twitter account and his first tweet was on his 89th birthday in 2011.
[35][36]
Personal life[edit]
Dilip Kumar was first in love with the actress
Kamini Kaushal, but they could not marry due to her being married to her deceased sister's husband.
[37] Subsequently, he was also in love with the actress
Madhubala but they had to part ways as her family was opposed to their marriage.
[38][39] Vyjayanthimala, was considered by film fans as Dilip Kumar's third love; they have denied any rumours of an affair. Both of them have had many successful films as a pair in the period 1955 to 1968. He married actress
Saira Banu, who was 22 years younger than him, in 1966.He married a second time in 1980 to Asma as he wanted to father a child, but the marriage ended soon after.
[40] Dilip Kumar for first time in his life undertook a
pilgrimage to Mecca in 2013 along with his wife Saira Banu.
[41]
Illness[edit]
Around 10 September 2011 it surfaced that the health of Kumar is worsening. Some tweets mistakenly spread news of his death.
[42] Later, Saira Banu made a public statement that Kumar is in good health and in high spirits. On 15 September 2013, at age of 90, Kumar suffered a silent
heart attack and was subsequently admitted to
Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai. He had undergone heart surgery 14 years before.
[43] In December 2014 and April 2016 he was again hospitalized for
pneumonia and admitted to Lilavati under ICU.
[44][45]
Awards and popularity[edit]
Filmography[edit]
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