Dilip Kumar: A lesson in humility and charisma

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One of the greatest actors this country has seen on the silver screen, Dilip Kumar still evokes awe and appreciation among movie lovers.

The thespian started trending on social media earlier this week after he posted a picture of his clad in his favourite pink shirt.

Now 98, his frail image at present is in start contrast to the aura surrounding him during his prime and when a glimpse of him used to drive his fans crazy.

The all-time favorite pink shirt. pic.twitter.com/JVsgntYTj3

— Dilip Kumar (@TheDilipKumar) March 2, 2021

This writer had the opportunity to interact with him briefly many eons ago in Mumbai.

On one balmy and sticky Bombay (now Mumbai) evening, nearly fifty years ago, way back in 1972, I encountered Dilip Sahab and the brief meeting has stayed. Then I was a fledgling reporter invited to Bombay to cover Ram Dayal’s Do Raha, which was then on the floors.

At a glittering film party thrown by industrialist Shiv Agarwal, actress Vimi’s husband, attended by bigwigs like GP Sippy, BR Chopra, Hrishikesh Mukherji et al, Dilip Sahab had dropped in well past midnight.

He was a neighbour as both he and Agarwal lived in two large adjacent houses in Pali Hills, perhaps Bombay’s poshest area.

Dilip Sahab was a recluse and hardly attended a party but when some of his friends called out “Yusuf Yusuf”, he sauntered in in his white safari and sandals.

It was the fag and of the party and the actor star hardly stayed for some twenty minutes.

It happened to be a starry night with all the configurations like Jupiter, Sagittarius shining in their splendour.

Dilip Sahab astounded us all by pointing in detail the star formations out in flawless English. After all, he had done his Masters in English in the Punjab University of those days.

And soon it was time for him to go home. Seeing him back away, I approached him and said I was his fan when he played his tragic roles, notably Devdas, but didn’t like him in comedies like Ram Aur Shyam.

He said playing too many tragedies had affected him and a shrink in the UK had advised him to play comedy. But when I reiterated my comment, Dilip Sahab strode off with a parting shot: “I am an utterly useless fellow”.

Remember, at that time he was a colossus of the Bombay film world, commanding a price of Rs 18 lakh for a film and worked only with close associates like BR Chopra.

(The writer is a senior journalist. Views expressed are personal)