On December 11 in 1922 when a blizzard was raging outside and a fire engulfed the Goldsmith’s Lane in Qissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar, Ayesha Bibi, the wife of Mohammad Sarwar Khan (a well-to-do fruit merchant), gave birth to a son. When this fourth child named Yousuf was five, a fakir came to the family and asked Dadi, ‘an iron lady’, to protect the child from ‘evil eye’. Dadi had the child’s head shaven and soot applied on his forehead to make him look unattractive. Saira Banu does so to her ‘Kohinoor’ Dilip Kumar even these days.

In school Yousuf Khan felt that he was becoming an introvert. This shy, reserved and alienated child liked being alone. His pastime was to imitate the ladies, men and a maulana. In the mid 1930s the family moved to Bombay, settled at Deolali where Yousuf was admitted to Barnes School. There he learnt English, played soccer and other games and read the works of the European authors and Urdu writers. He joined the Khalsa College in Central Bombay where he met Raj Kapoor after a long time. Raj Kapoor, his close friend, was an extrovert and liked the company of girls. He was a charmer and mischievous too. The dream of Yousuf’s father was to see OBE (Order of the British Empire) attached to Yousuf’s name.

After a minor tiff with Agha ji (his father) Yousuf left for Poona with forty rupees in his pocket. There he spoke to the Iranian owner of a café in Persian. Yousuf was called Chico…a Spanish word which means ‘a lad’. Saira Banu still calls him Chico. He established sandwich business there. When he made a speech in a club, police came, handcuffed him and took him to jail for having expressed anti-British views. In the jail the jailor called him Gandhiwala.

When he came back to Bombay, one Dr Masani introduced him to Devika Rani of the Bombay Talkies. She told him that he would be paid Rs1250 a month if he acted in films. Raj Kapoor was getting Rs170 a month in those days. It was Devika Rani who gave him the name Dilip Kumar.

Dilip Kumar says: "Dilip Kumar had a liberating effect on me." He watched the movies of James Stewart, Paul Muni, Ingrid Bergman and Clark Gable. Ashok Kumar (who believed in ‘non-acting’) and S Mukherjee taught him Bengali. Dilip Kumar taught Ashok Kumar Urdu. S Mukherjee asked him to recite Persian and Urdu verses at a function, which he did immaculately. He faced the camera for a shot at the age of 21 for the film Jwar Bhata.

Raj Kapoor was very happy when he found that Dilip had joined films. Both were very intimate friends. Dilip Kumar was very close to Pran, Johny Walker, Bimal Roy, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Dharmendra, Sunil Dutt and many others. Pran and Dilip used to spend the evenings together laughing and joking. Next it was a little awkward when Pran had to brim with hatred towards Dilip in front of the camera. One day Jawaharlal Nehru came on the sets of a film to see Dilip Kumar. ‘Dilip was Nehru’s hero’; ‘Nehru was Dilip’s hero’.

Dilip Kumar acted in twenty-three films from 1944 up to 1954. Dr W D Nicholas, a British psychiatrist, advised him to switch over to comedy because he had performed many tragic roles with adverse effect. In 1955 he acted in Azaad and proved that he could act in a comedy impeccably. He learnt management skills and creative processes. He selected the stories of the films with utmost care and a sense of perfection. For him the choice of subject, actors, music composition, cinematography and art direction were of much importance for the quality of the final product. He took active part in the making of a film.

He acted in thirty-nine films from 1955 up to 1998. When Subhash Ghai told Dilip Kumar that he had cast Raaj Kumar also in the film Saudagar, Dilip had no objection. Instead, he asked Subhash Ghai to ask Raaj Kumar if he had any objection. Raaj Kumar was known for his idiosyncrasies and eccentricities. When Raaj Kumar was invited to attend the Silver Wedding Anniversary of Dilip Kumar and Saira, Raaj Kumar came and left without meeting Dilip Kumar and Saira because there were many film personalities there. He left a silver platter for the couple with the words inscribed on it: "To Lalay and Lalay ki Jaan, many happy returns."

Dilip Kumar acted in sixty-two films and fourteen unreleased or shelved films. He regretted not having acted in three films, viz, Baiju Bawara, Pyaasa and Zanjeer. He got Filmfare award eight times, Padma Bhushan, Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Pakistan), N T Rama Rao Award, Ramnath Goenka Award and numerous other awards. In 1962 Satyajit Ray wanted to cast him in his film Abhijan but Dilip Kumar declined because the script required him to appear bare-bodied. He turned down David Lean’s offer to cast him in Lawrence of Arabia.

Dilip Kumar was the first ‘method actor’ in the world much before Marlon Brando because he had evolved a method and applied the Emotional Memory technique for which Constantin Stanislavski, the great Russian actor and director, is known. He acted from the internal as well as the external, lived in the silences or pauses and never lost sense of truth and love of art. Yash Chopra calls him "a spontaneous actor". Shabana Azmi says that Dilip Kumar "changed the course of acting in Hindi cinema". For Salim Khan "he brought divine spirituality to acting and converted his profession into worship". While shooting Prem Rog Raj Kapoor shouted at Rishi Kapoor: "Mujhe Yousuf chahiye". Ramesh Sippy calls him "the greatest actor of all time".

Saira started liking Dilip Kumar after seeing Aan. She enquired from others about his tastes and likes. She wanted to work with him in a film but Dilip did not approve of this. In Coimbatore an astrologer told him that he would marry a girl half his age. When Dilip shook Saira’s hand "Time stood still". She looked straight into his eyes. One day Dilip told her: "I would like to marry you. Will you be my wife?" When it was drizzling Dilip took off his jacket and wrapped it around Saira’s body. That ‘jacket’ is a treasure for Saira. The chapter describing their love is the most gripping in the book.

Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu married each other on October 11 in 1966. It was a simple marriage ceremony. A maulvi sahab and dried dates were arranged. No invitation cards were printed and there was no list of guests. Only close friends were invited to the function telephonically. He wanted to go in a car but was asked to sit on a mare led by Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor and Nasir. Raj Kapoor walked into Dilip’s house on his knees because he had said that he would do so if and when Dilip married.

Dilip Kumar speaks Tamil, Telugu, Konkani, Gujarati, Parsi Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi, Hindi, Persian, French, German and Urdu immaculately. On his advice Lata Mangeshkar (‘my younger sister’) engaged a learned maulana to teach her the correct pronunciation of Urdu words. Both of them sang a duet for Musafir (1957). Dilip Kumar recites the Quran, Sanskrit verses from the Gita and quotes from the Bible. He is an outstanding orator, scriptwriter and intellectual. He has a large collection of books in English, Urdu and some other languages on various subjects. One day he addressed a medical conference, which showed his knowledge of medicine. He is a mimic par excellence and a superb dancer. He is simple, childlike, genial, mischievous and trusting. He is a child prankster who loves to whistle. He mastered soccer, badminton, cricket, hockey, golf, bridge and chess.

Dilip Kumar’s first love was Kamini Kaushal. Madhubala filled his "void that was crying out to be filled". He did not marry Madhubala because her father wanted to make that marriage a business venture. Madhubala’s father got her entangled in a lawsuit with B R Chopra, the producer and director of Naya Daur. Vyjayantimala replaced Madhubala. Dilip Kumar and Madhubala were not on talking terms during the shooting of the romantic scenes of Mughal-e-Azam.

Dilip Kumar underwent open-heart surgery in a hospital in Maharashtra. Kamini Kaushal came to him to enquire about his health. When Madhubala came Dilip found her frail and very weak.

Dilip Kumar remained a bachelor for many years because he had to take care of his brothers and sisters, and marry off younger sisters. Besides, he wanted to give them the best education in the fields they chose….be it in India or abroad. He became the ‘parent-brother’ of his five brothers and six sisters. His elder sister liked highhandedness. Nonsensical arguments and bickering happened in the house that Dilip Kumar bought for his brothers and sisters. He lived in the outhouse in the company of his books and well-read persons. He depended on his close friend Mukri to help him out of sad and unhappy situations.

Dilip Kumar is a great lover of the sunset, nature and pristine surroundings. He offers nimaaz, celebrates the Deepawali by decorating his house with the lamps and delights in using firecrackers. In the films he never approved of the explicit love scenes showing physical intimacy because he did not want to embarrass family audiences. He was conscious of his moral responsibility as an actor.

He loved to fly kites. He still possesses a trunk which is full of exquisite kites of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. He would come home with a number of guests who would stay for dinner. There was no question of ordering from a hotel. On the sets while having meals he would suddenly get up and go to the table laid out for the technicians and others to see himself how and what they were having. He does not sleep alone in a room nor does he switch off the light during night. Yousuf Khan is the substance and Dilip Kumar is the shadow. One day he told his family friend Asif Farooqui: "Yousuf Khan is scared of Dilip Kumar. Only Allah knows who Dilip Kumar is and what all he can do."

In 1972 Saira lost a boy in the eighth month of her pregnancy. Surgery couldn’t be performed to save the foetus.

Dilip Kumar met a lady Asma Rehman at a cricket match in Andhra Pradesh. He became the victim of a grave situation, which created crisis in his marriage with Saira. Friends like Rajni Patel, Bakul Patel, Sharad Pawar and Mama Kapadia came to his help. Saira stood by him during the period of tension. Legal processes of divorce were completed vis-à-vis Asma and thus an ugly situation was averted.

In March 1998 Dilip Kumar went to Pakistan to receive Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Order of Excellence), the highest civilian award. The then Shiv Sena supremo, Balasaheb Thackeray, had cast aspersions on his patriotism. But Atal Bihari Vajpayee asked him to go and receive the award. In Pakistan he inaugurated Imran Khan’s Charitable Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust Hospital for cancer patients. Inauguration of Fatimid Foundation (blood bank) turned into a state function. General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq made him a state guest. He went to Peshawar and saw that the people were thrilled to see him. Dilip talks about his house there with nostalgia. His father, Aghaji, had told the family before the Partition of the country: "We will remain in India and die in India." He heard about the death of Raj Kapoor, flew to Delhi and told the unconscious Raj lying on a bed in the hospital: "Raj, I am sorry. I came late even today. Forgive me."

When there were ugly demonstrations outside his bungalow for having received the award in Pakistan Dilip Kumar said: "I miss my friend Raj today…He would not have let this happen to me."

It gives Dilip Kumar great spiritual satisfaction to espouse a noble cause. He arranged relief for the famine and earthquake victims of Maharashtra, contributed to hospitals, primary schools, new parks, modern public washrooms in the slum areas of Bombay, worked for the National Association of the Blind and raised money to motivate, educate and train the visually handicapped. Shabana Azmi says that he "has a strong social conscience."

He established the Film Industry Welfare Trust, worked for the superannuation schemes for old and retired artistes and got huge land allotted for a film city. He gave a prime piece of land for a park to be made in Maharashtra. The land is unattended to this day.

Udayatara Nayar deserves accolades for having worked very hard on the book Dilip Kumar The Substance and the Shadow -- An Autobiography. She has patiently done a very commendable job and performed the role of an understanding and sympathetic Father Confessor. Saira Banu succeeded in making Dilip Kumar, a very private person, come out with the story of his life, his innermost thoughts, his family life, his disappointments, his passions, his struggles, and his love of life.

This volume of 445 pages reveals many unknown aspects of the multifaceted legend’s life. Here we find dramatic utterances of Dilip’s intimate self, the meaning of his romanticism, the enlargement of his truth and the triumph of his vision of life. His candour and the incidents he relates present varied pictures of a connoisseur and man of parts. But, as is always the case with the authors of autobiographies, he has not revealed many unsavoury happenings.

The autobiography ends on page 317. The last section of the book Reminiscences contains the articles written by 43 persons who know Dilip Kumar intimately including the one written by his personal dhobi Pyarelal and another by his personal physician Dr Shrikant Gokhale. These articles reveal many more facets of the great actor. Udayatara Nayar has a fairly good command on the English language. Her style is lucid and transparent. Some of the details could have been edited or deleted and the repetitions removed. The book is a captivating and literary tour de force for all lovers of films in the world. Hundreds of photographs add to the excellence of the book.