Dilip Kumar is the eternal dream prince of Bollywood cinema
Award-winning veteran Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar (98) passed away this morning. This is his #Rore memory. # From the principles
The crown of Bollywood cinema, which has a history of 105 years, oscillated between the heads of several people from time to time. Among them, the name ‘Dilip Kumar’ is at the top. It is no secret that Hirimal took the manual to Bollywood cinema when he was a teenager and took it to a new dimension. He has been active in the film industry for over half a century and is considered to be one of the pioneers in elevating Bollywood cinema to an international industry.
Birth and childhood
Despite his popularity in Bombay-centric Bollywood films, Dilip Kumar was born on December 11, 1922 in Quiza Quani Bazaar, present-day Peshawar, Pakistan. Born into a Muslim family, he was named Mohammed Yusuf Khan. His family consisted of 12 brothers and sisters.
In 1947, a few years before the separation of India and Pakistan, their family migrated to Bombay, where Yusuf was a young woman who met Devika Rani, then a popular star in Hindi cinema. At her invitation, he introduced the manual Dilip Kumar to Bollywood.
Cinema career
Dilip Kumar’s first acting role was in the 1944 film ‘Jwar Bata’. But it fails miserably commercially. Three years later, in 1947, the film ‘Jugnu’ was released and brought good luck to Dilip. He won the hearts of Bollywood fans with this film and in 1949 another successful film starring him, ‘Andas’ was released. Here he co-starred with Raj Kapoor.
The 1950s were the golden decade of Dilip Kumar’s film career. From the very beginning, he became very popular and a lot of films were made about him. Deedar (1951), Ann (1952), Amar (1954), Insaniyat (1955), Devdas (1955), Asad (1955), and Madhumati (1958) were among the most successful. He was nicknamed the ‘King of Tragedy’ because of his portrayal of characters who end in tragedy.
In the 1960s, Dilip Kumar became even more popular. That’s because he’s got to portray a few characters who can make good character plays. Especially the 1960 film ‘Mowgli Assam’ broke many box office records in Bollywood at that time. The following year, he produced his own film, Ganga Jamuna (1961), which also became a huge hit with audiences. However, his 1964 film ‘Leader’ was not as commercially successful as he had hoped. Dil Diya Dard Liya (1966) inherited the same fate. However, with the huge popularity of the 1967 film ‘Ram Or Shyam’, Dilip Kumar made a successful comeback in Bollywood. Here he portrayed the characters of two identical twin brothers.
The 1970s were not a good time for Dilip Kumar’s film career. Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna were very popular at the time and Dilip seemed to be declining in popularity with age. He briefly retired from cinema in 1976 after contributing to the somewhat popular film Byrag. He later came on stage in the 80s and starred in successful films such as Kranthi (1981), Shakthi (1982), Vidatha (1982) and Karma (1986).
Dilip Kumar’s last successful role was in Saudagar (1991). In 1996 he tried to get into directing but it was not successful. Appearing in the 1998 film ‘Quila’, he says goodbye to acting. He is now 76 years old.
Dilip Kumar also held a position in the Indian Parliament for some time.
Marriage and personal life
Dilip Kumar was 44 years old at the time of his marriage and he was married to another Bollywood star, Zahira Bhanu. However, this marriage suffered some setbacks. Dilip married another woman, Asma, in 1980, but soon divorced her. After that Dilip and Zahira have a successful marriage.
Awards and popularity
Dilip Kumar has received many awards and honors throughout his film career. Critics say that his natural style of acting may have contributed to this. He had an innate ability to quickly grasp a character and present it in a variety of ways, setting a record for the most number of Best Actor awards in Filmfare history. At the 1992 Filmfare Awards, I was lucky enough to receive the once-in-a-lifetime Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 1994, Dilip Kumar received the ‘Dada Saheb Palke’ award for his outstanding contribution to Bollywood cinema. Being a Pakistani by birth, he also receives the Nishan e Imtiaz Award from Pakistan. That is because of the social welfare work he launched.
Dilip Kumar is very old but still in good health. He hopes to celebrate his 96th birthday next December. Despite the occasional bright star in Bollywood cinema, critics say that Dilip Kumar has not yet emerged as a comparable star.