Dilip Kumar
Summary
Starting his career in 1944, Dilip Kumar has starred in some of the biggest commercially successful films from the late 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1980s. His performances have been regarded as the epitome of emoting in Indian Cinema. He was the first actor to receive a Filmfare Best Actor Award and holds the record for most number of Filmfare Awards won for that category. Though he has done all kinds of films - he balanced a wide variety of roles such as the intense Andaz (1949) with the swashbuckling Aan (1952), the dramatic Devdas (1955) with the comical Azaad (1955) and the historical romance Mughal E Azam (1960) with the social Ganga Jamuna (1961). In the 1970s roles dried up for Kumar and after 1976 he left films for a five year break. In 1981 he returned with a character role in the blockbuster film Kranti and continued his career playing central character roles in hits such as Shakti (1982), Karma (1986) and Saudagar (1991) his last film was Qila in 1998. He has since retired from the industry.
Early life
He was born Muhammad Yusuf Khan, in Mohallah Khudadad, at the back of Qissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar,Pakistan, in the then Undivided India. Peshawar is part of Pakistan since 1947. Yusuf Khan was born to a Peshawari family of Afghan origin with twelve children. His father, Ghulam Sarwar was a fruit merchant and owned large orchards in Peshawar and Deolali in Maharashtra near Nashik. The family relocated to Mumbai in 1930s and in the early 1940s Yusuf Khan moved to Pune and started off with his canteen business and supplying dry fruits.
He was spotted in Crawford Market fruit stall which was run by his father, by a leading director from Bombay Talkies of those years, Amiya Chakravarty who was a protege of Devika Rani. Devika Rani, who was also the wife of the founder of Bombay Talkies, Himanshu Rai, and helped his entry into the Bollywood film industry. Mr.Amiya Chakravarty also gave him the screen name of Dilip Kumar and starred him in Dilip Kumar's first movie Jwar Bhata. Devika and her husband Roerich spotted the young and smart looking Yusuf Khan in one of Pune's Aundh military canteen.
Career
His first film Jwar Bhata, was released in 1944 which went unnoticed. In 1947 he shot to prominence with working with the legendary singer/actor Noor Jahan who agreed to act opposite him in the film Jugnu which was his first major hit. In 1949, he co-starred with Raj Kapoor in the romantic melodrama film Andaz, which went to become a huge success and made him a star. Throughout the 1950s he was one of the biggest stars of Bollywood along with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand. He became known for playing tragic roles in popular films such as Deedar (1951), Amar (1954), Devdas (1955) and Madhumati (1958) which earned him the title of "tragedy king".
He was also successful in playing lighthearted roles such as playing a swashbuckling peasant in Aan (1952) and a comic role in Azaad (1955). In 1960 he starred in the historical film Mughal-e-Azam which is as of 2008, the second highest grossing film in Hindi film history inflation adjusted in which he played the role of the Mughal crown-prince Jehangir, the son of Akbar.
In 1961 he produced and starred in the hit Ganga Jamuna in which he and his real-life brother Nasir Khan played the title roles. Despite the film's success he did not produce any film after this. Dilip had a narrow brush with international fame in 1962, when British director David Lean offered him the role of Sherif Ali in his 1962 blockbuster, Lawrence of Arabia. However, Kumar declined the part. The role eventually went to Omar Sharif, the Egyptian actor. After a brief period of box office flops in the mid 1960s, he bounced back when he played a dual role of twins separated at birth in the film Ram Aur Shyam (1967) which was one of the biggest box office hits of the year. The success of Ram Aur Shyam spawned a number of remakes and imitators.
In the 1970s Kumar acted in fewer films as newer actors such as Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan had begun to take the spotlight.
In 1976 film Bairaag in which he played triple roles did well, and then he took a five year break from acting.
He made a comeback in 1981 with the multi-starrer Kranti which was the biggest hit of the year. He went onto play character roles as an elderly family patriarch or a police officer in a string of box office hits including Shakti (1982) (in which he starred alongside the reigning superstar of the time Amitabh Bachchan), Vidhaata (1982), Mashaal (1984) and Karma (1986). In his last major successful film, Saudagar (1991) he appeared alongside another legendary actor Raaj Kumar after three decades since they last appeared together in Paigham (1959). In 1993 he won the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 1996 he was attached to make his directorial debut with a film titled Kalinga but the film was shelved. In 1998 he made his last film appearance to date in the box office flop Qila. His classic film Mughal-E-Azam was fully colorized in 2004 and re-released. Even in 2004, it did well at the box office. Another one of his classic films Naya Daur was colourized and released in August 2007. He is from golden era of actors like Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar is one of the last actors from the golden era of Bollywood.
Public life
He has been active in efforts to bring the people of India and Pakistan closer together. He has been a member of the upper house of Parliament since 2000 and is known for his extensive charity work..
He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994. In 1998 he was awarded the Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian award conferred by the government of Pakistan. He is the second Indian to receive the award; the first was former Indian prime minister Morarji Desai. At the time of Kargil War Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray demanded Dilip Kumar to return Nishan-e-Pakistan . Mr Thackeray said Dilip Kumar must give back the award as a mark of protest for Pakistan's intrusion into Indian soil in May. "He must return Nishan-e-Pakistan following that country's blatant aggression on Indian soil." , but Mr. Kumar held his ground. He refused, saying:
- "We need to look at this a little rationally. This award is not more important to me than our national interest. If it affects national interest, why would I want to hang on to it? But what does the award’s citation say? Does it say that this has been given to Dilip Kumar for his achievements in films? No, films are just a vocation for me. I do the best I can. 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?"
Personal life
Dilip Kumar married actress and "beauty queen" Saira Banu in 1966 when he was aged 44 and she was 22. At the time, gossip columnists predicted doom for the high-profile couple, but the union has been one of the longest lasting marriages in Bollywood.
Dilip Kumar's younger brother Nasir Khan was also an actor and appeared opposite him in Ganga Jamuna (1961) and Bairaag (1976) as well as some other films in the late 1940s and 1950s. His career was not as successful however. He died in 1974. Nasir Khan's wife was 1950s actress Begum Para who recently made a comeback to films after 50 years in the film Saawariya in 2007.
Dilip Kumar was said to be romantically linked to the actress Madhubala. It is claimed that Madhubala's family would not allow the couple to marry; some conjecture that this was because Madhubala was the main source of income for her family. . Dilip Kumar and actress Madhubala were to appear together in Naya Daur, but Madhubala's father refused to allow his daughter to act with Kumar. The producer B.R. Chopra took Madhubala to court and Dilip Kumar testified against her. The former sweethearts were now on extremely bad terms. This complicated work on the film Mughal-e-Azam, which had started filming before the court case. It is said that Kumar and Madhubala, who were supposed to portray persecuted lovers, resisted filming any more love scenes.
Awards
Dilip Kumar has received many awards throughout his career (a career spanning over more than 50 years with his last film, Qila, releasing in 1998. The awards include 8 Filmfare Best Actor awards and 19 nominations in all for the same. He has also been honored Filmfare Lifetime Achievent award in 1992. The Government of India in 1994, honored him with the Dada Saheb Phalke award -- the highest award for cinematic excellence in India. This underlines his vast contribution to Indian Cinema. In 1980, he was appointed Sheriff of Mumbai, an honorary position. In 1997, Dilip Kumar was awarded, Nishan-e-Pakistan, Pakistan's highest civilian award.
He received NTR National Award for the year 1997. He was also awarded CNN-IBN Indian of the year - Lifetime achievement award in 2009.
Filmography
| Acting Filmography | |
|---|---|
| Jwar Bhata (1944) | Jagdish |
| Pratima (1945) | |
| Milan (1947) | Ramesh |
| Jugnu (1947) | Sooraj |
| Shaheed (1948) | Ram |
| Nadiya Ke Paar (1948) | |
| Mela (1948) | Mohan |
| Ghar Ki Izzat (1948) | Chanda |
| Anokha Pyar (1948) | Ashok |
| Shabnam (1949) | Manoj |
| Andaz (1949) | Dilip |
| Jogan (1950) | Vijay |
| Babul (1950) | Ashok |
| Arzoo (1950) | Badal |
| Tarana (1951) | Motilal |
| Hulchul (1951) | Kishore |
| Deedar (1951) | Shamu |
| Sangdil (1952) | Shankar |
| Daag (1952) | Shankar |
| Aan (1952) | Jai Tilak |
| Shikast (1953) | Dr. Ram Singh |
| Footpath (1953) | Noshu |
| Amar (1954) | Amarnath |
| Udan Khatola (1955) | |
| Insaniyat (1955) | |
| Devdas (1955) | Devdas |
| Azaad (1955) | |
| Naya Daur (1957) | |
| Musafir (1957) | |
| Yahudi (1958) | Prince Marcus |
| Madhumati (1958) | Anand/ Deven |
| Paigham (1959) | Ratan Lal |
| Kohinoor (1960) | |
| Mughal-E-Azam (1960) | Prince Salim |
| Gunga Jumna (1961) | Gunga |
| Leader (1964) | Vijay Khanna |
| Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966) | Sahnkar/Rajasaheb |
| Ram Aur Shyam (1967) | Ram/ Shyam |
| Sunghursh (1968) | |
| Sadhu Aur Shaitan (1968) | |
| Aadmi (1968) | Rajesh/ Raja Saheb |
| Sagina Mahato (1970) | |
| Gopi (1970) | Gopi |
| Daastan (1972) | Anil/Sunil |
| Anokha Milan (1972) | |
| Sagina (1974) | |
| Phir Kab Milogi (1974) | |
| Bairaag (1976) | |
| Kranti (1981) | Sanga/Kranti |
| Vidhaata (1982) | Shamsher Singh |
| Shakti (1982) | Ashvini Kumar |
| Mazdoor (1983) | Dinanath Saxena |
| Duniya (1984) | Mohan Kumar |
| Mashaal (1984) | Vinod Kumar |
| Dharam Adhikari (1986) | |
| Karma (1986) | Vishwanath Pratab Singh aka Rana |
| Kanoon Apna Apna (1989) | |
| Izzatdaar (1990) | Brahmadutt |
| Aag Ka Dariya (1990) | |
| Saudagar (1991) | Thakur Beer Singh |
| Qila (1998) | Jaganath/Amarnath Singh |
Dilip Kumar's uncompleted/unreleased films
- Bank Manager (Director & Producer RC Talwar)
- Taj Mahal (Director & Producer K. Asif)
- Akhri Mughal (Director & Producer K. Asif)
- Har Singhar (Director Mahesh Kol & Producer Allied Art Productions)
- Shikwah (Director & Producer Rajindar Jain)
- Janwar (Director & Producer K. Asif)
- Chankia Chandar Gupt (Director BR Chopra & Producer Kishore Kumar)
- Kalinga (Producer Sudhakar Bokade Director Dilip Kumar)
- Aag Ka Darya (Director Rajindar Singh Babu & Producer Premaliya)
- Asr (Director Kuku Kohli)
- Kala Aadmi (Director & Producer Nasir Hussain)
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