Dilip Kumar no more

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Indian cinema has given many actors. Some of them have become heroes; a few, legends. Dilip Kumar was one of the latter category. Born to a fruit merchant father, Mohammad Yusuf Khan came to Maharashtra when he was a boy. He not only attained popularity as a king of melancholia but also in other forms of acting. Ray famously described him as the ‘ultimate method actor’. Till date he remains one of the most awarded filmstars in the country.

Dilip Kumar was the first superstar too. In his age he did not have the support of fan-management-strategy-weaving PR firms and the marketing brigade of deep-pocket companies who ensure modern stars enjoy top-of-the-mind recall of the common man. He simply uncorked his talents on the screen, scripting one landmark after another – Mela (1948), Andaz (1949), Deedar (1951), Aan (1952), Azaad (1955) Devdas (1955), Mughal-e-Azam (1960), Kohinoor (1960), Ganga Jamuna (1961), Kranti (1981).

According to a 2019 report, Mughal-e-Azam, where he played prince Salim, remains the highest grosser in Indian cinema when adjusted for inflation. He was sophistication personified. In an era when melodrama sold with the masses, he chose to tread the path of understatement and did not deviate from it. The intensity he poured into his roles earned him the label of a tragedy king. The word went around that he switched to lighter roles upon the advice of psychiatrists who thought the tragic roles were affecting the actor psychologically.

One of the most important facets of Dilip Kumar was that he was immensely popular in both India and Pakistan emerging as one of the few persons who could defy the bloody history and animosity between the two neighbours and emerge as a unifying symbol. In this respect he had a lot of similarity with another legend, who departed only 18 days ago, Milkha Singh. Singh was also born in Pakistan and was extremely popular in that country. In 2014, Dilip Kumar’s ancestral house in Peshawar was declared a national heritage monument. He was also conferred the highest civilian award of Pakistan Nishan-e-Imtiaz in 1998.