The Indian film industry is considered the biggest film-making entity worldwide which produces more than a thousand movies a year. Despite having a humble beginning in the industry which started with the movie Raja Harischandra released in the year 1913, the industry has come a long way in producing worldwide-grossing movies with a gigantic budget.
During this journey of more than 100 years, Indian cinema has witnessed many actors but only a few were able to captivate the audience for a long period. One among those stars is Mohammed Yusuf Khan aka Dilip Kumar.
Late Kumar was not only a star who worked in the film industry but ruled the B-Town with his magnificent presence and remained active for more than five decades.
On today’s date in 1922, Dilip was born to a fruit merchant family in Peshawar, British India (present-day Pakistan). Veteran actor Raj Kapoor who later went on to become his co-star was his neighbour during childhood. Post partitions, the family of the actor choose to stay in India despite having a stable base in Pakistan.
Late Kumar, who started his career in 1944 with the movie Jwar Bhata, went on to become the greatest actor of all-time gaining a reputation as the king of acting. His first movie through which he gained nationwide fame was Jugnu (1947) in which he starred alongside actress Noor Jehan. The movie had a cameo appearance of singer Mohammed Rafi who was the voice of Dilip Kumar throughout his career.
Acting in blockbuster movies such as Andaz (1959), Daag (1952), Aan (1952), Inshaniyat (1955), Devdas (1955), Yahudi (1958), and other hits. Dilip ruled the silver screen in the 50-60s with his massive presence.
Here is his famous song from the movie Yahudi, ‘Yeh Mera Deewanapan Hai”;
Legendary Dilip Kumar is considered one of the greatest actors of all time and is often compared to Hollywood contemporaries like Marlon Brando for his method acting skills.
He is the actor with the maximum Filmfare awards along with Shah Rukh Khan, holding eight awards to his credit.
Dilip’s career saw a thorough decline during the late 60s to early 80s, with the emergence of stars such as Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, and Vinod Khanna. He bounced back to fame with actor Manoj Kumar’s movie Kranti (1981), where he played the role of a revolutionary freedom fighter. The multi-star cast movie was the highest grosser of the year.
During this time Dilip established himself, as “the angry old man” doing titular roles in movies such as Vidhaata (1982), and Shakti (1982).
His career witnessed the last box-office hit with Subhash Ghai’s, ‘Saudagar’ released in the year 1991. This was his second movie with veteran actor Raj Kumar who came together after the movie Paigham (1959). Saudagar became the highest-earning movie of the year and became a lunch pad for actress Manisha Koirala.
Dilip Kumar passed away in the year 2021 at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai due to chronic illness and age-related issues. He was buried with state honours in the Juhu Muslim Cemetery.