The legend of Dilip Kumar

Dilip Kumar was no ordinary actor. He was a legend who developed the art of method acting and took it to new heights. He was acknowledged for his skills by men of the status of Satyajit Ray and David Lean, who asked him to take a role in Lawrence of Arabia, in his epic film. Dilip Kumar refused this offer because he didn’t wish to leave Mumbai for such a long period of time. Along with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar made up a trio which dominated Bollywood for years and set the pattern for the acting of the future. His films have truly lived on through the years and also inspired other actors including Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, who has said that for him Dilip Kumar always remained an inspiration.

But Dilip Kumar was more than an inspiration. His life in itself had a magnetic charm which can never be forgotten. His films remain on the reels of old movies, but he lives on in the hearts of many, even after he passed away on Wednesday at the age of 98 in a hospital. As many of us know, Dilip Kumar, born Muhammad Yousuf Khan, grew up in Peshawar and was a native Hindko speaker. He is remembered by some of the elders of Peshawar as the little boy who ran through the streets of his mohalla, and ate at local stalls. To take his acting career further, he moved to Mumbai and made it a point to make sure he had mastered every nuance of the Hindi and Urdu language and done away with his natural accent. Indeed, he even asked the singer for his first film, Muhammad Rafi, to do the same.

However, Dilip Kumar never forgot the city where he was born and where he grew up. He visited it in 1988 and again some 10 years later in 1997, when he was awarded Pakistan’s top civilian award. Years later, in the mid 2000s, he asked for pictures of his ancestral home which by then had fallen into something resembling ruin. This home should remain a museum to Dilip Kumar, to his skills, to his unique artistry, to his strength and to the legend that he was. If this is done, it would be the right tribute to pay to a man who developed the art of film to new heights and remained loyal to the city he was born in and which he recalled with love all his long life. Dilip Kumar will never be forgotten – in India or in Pakistan.