{"id":116882,"date":"2021-08-07T15:14:52","date_gmt":"2021-08-07T22:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=116882"},"modified":"2021-08-07T15:17:14","modified_gmt":"2021-08-07T22:17:14","slug":"demise-of-dilip-kumar-the-demigod-of-hindi-cinema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/08\/07\/demise-of-dilip-kumar-the-demigod-of-hindi-cinema\/","title":{"rendered":"Demise of Dilip Kumar the demigod of Hindi cinema."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

I have always strongly endorsed the necessity for actors to possess a reasonable degree of social responsibility. The actor who is adored by millions of people owes something to the society, which has given him an elevated and highly respected position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dilip Kumar\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dilip Kumar was born in Peshawar (which is now in Pakistan, but\nthen part of India) on December 11, 1922, and died in Mumbai on July 7,\n2021  at the ripe old age of 98. Named Mohammad Yousuf Khan at birth, he\nwas better known and idolized by his stage or industry name Dilip Kumar. \nHe was the oldest and the most renowned surviving representative of the Golden\nAge of Hindi cinema. Considered as the brightest and the most creative period\nof Hindi cinema (both artistic and commercial)  by historians of the\nIndian film industry, the Golden Age spanned more than two decades from the\nlate 1940\u2019s to the 1960\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This era saw a historic conglomeration of talented cine artistes\nincluding such legendary playback singers as the sister duo Latha Mangeshkar and\nAsha Bhonsle, Mohammed Rafi and Manna Dey, such innovative music\ndirectors  as Naushad and S.D. Burman, such great actors as Ashok Kumar,\nBharat Bhushan, Raj Kumar, and Sunil Dutt, such exceptionally beautiful and\nequally talented female artistes as Nargis, Suraiya, Meena Kumari, and\nMadhubala, and such respected film directors as Kamal Amrohi and Shakti\nSamantha. During this period were produced, among many memorable films,\nmasterpieces like Chetan Anand\u2019s Neecha Nagar<\/em> (1946), Raj Kapoor\u2019s Awaara<\/em>\n(1951) and Shree 420<\/em> (1955), Ritwik Ghatak\u2019s Nagarik<\/em> (1952),\nBimal Roy\u2019s Do Beegha Zameen <\/em>(1953) and Madhumati<\/em> (1958),\nSatyajit Ray\u2019s Pather Panchali<\/em> (1955), Guru Dutt\u2019s Pyasa<\/em> (1957),\nMehboob Khan\u2019s Mother India<\/em> (1957), K. Asif\u2019s Mughal-e-Azam<\/em>\n(1960), A. Bhimsingh\u2019s Khandan<\/em> (1965), and Devendra Goel\u2019s Ek Phool\nDo Mali<\/em> (1969). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The artistes and their works were nationally and internationally\nacclaimed: Neecha Nagar<\/em> won the Golden Palm award at the Cannes Film\nFestival in1946; Mother India <\/em>was the first Indian entry for the Academy\nAward for the Best Foreign Language Film in 1958, and got shortlisted for the\nsame; Dilip Kumar was approached for a role in British director David Lean\u2019s Lawrence\nof Arabia <\/em>(1962), but Dilip didn\u2019t accept the offer because he was so\nchoosy about films he did. Being one of the \u2018Big Three\u2019 of that era (the other\ntwo were Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand), Dilip Kumar graced the Indian cinema\u2019s\ncentre stage the longest, even beyond the Golden Age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 While the above extremely simplified background note may be\nadequate to give the readers an idea about the glory of the Golden Age of Hindi\ncinema, even for me of the older generation of Sri Lankans, the Indian cine\nartistes of that time and their films were no more than fast receding echoes\nfrom a past lost in the dimming brightness of a golden sunset; in other words,\nI had only a nodding acquaintance with that era of Hindi cinema. (Today I\nhardly watch Hindi films, but I listen to Hindi songs, particularly, new\nrenditions of Golden Age classics.) I myself had seen only a couple of the last\nof the Golden Age Hindi films before the 1980\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, thanks to modern technology in the form of the Internet,\nthey are available to us on the computer screen at a click on a relevant link\nand at little cost. This, no doubt, is a great boon to those old-timers like me\nwho are besotted with Hindi films and film music of that vintage. It is\ndoubtful whether the average young Sri Lankans of today could experience the\nlinguistic (Sinhala and Hindi being sister languages belonging to the same\nIndo-European language family) and cultural affinity we still nostalgically\nfeel with the characters and incidents in those classic Hindi films. Of course,\nwe can\u2019t blame them if they fail to see anything remarkably great or\ninteresting in them just as many film-goers of the previous generations find\nnothing absorbing in the average Hindi films on offer today that are obviously\nmuch loved by youngsters; it\u2019s only that times have changed. At the same time,\nwe shouldn\u2019t forget the fact that there are<\/em> enough young fans of old\nHindi films who admire them especially for their music. This essay, written to\nmark the passing away of a demigod of Bollywood, is dedicated to all lovers of\nthe great Hindi movies of the Golden Age, and all admirers of the heroes and\nheroines that starred in them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As stated at the beginning, Muhammad Yousuf Khan (later \u2018Dilip\nKumar\u2019 to the film world) was born in  Peshawar (now in Pakistan) on 11\nDecember 1922. His father Lala Ghulam Sarvar was a fruit trader who had\norchards in Peshawar and in Deolali in Maharashtra, India. Lala Ghulam moved to\nBombay (modern Mumbai) with his large family of twelve in the late 1930\u2019s. Dilip\nwent to Puna (now Pune) somewhere in the early 40\u2019s. While engaged in a canteen\nbusiness there, the young Yousuf Khan was spotted by actress Devika Rani, wife\nof Himanshu Rai, the owner of Bombay Talkies, himself an actor.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Devika Rani gave him his first break in films in Jwar Bhata<\/em>\n(1944), a film that was hardly noticed. His second film was Jugnu<\/em> (1947)\nwhere he was paired with Noorjehan, and it became his first major hit. Dilip\nKumar starred in Andaz<\/em> (1949) with Raj Kapoor and Nargis; the film was based\non the classic story of a love triangle. Following these initial ventures, he\nplayed tragic roles in a number of successful films in the 1950\u2019s, which earned\nhim the sobriquet Tragedy King\u201d. Some of these films were Jogan<\/em> (1950),\nDeedar<\/em> (1951), Daag<\/em> (1952), Devdas<\/em> (1955), Yahudi<\/em>\n(1958) Madhumati<\/em> (1958) and Kohinoor <\/em>(1960).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When in 1964 he played the role of a youthful, rebellious,\nanarchist law graduate in Leader<\/em>, he was already into his middle age.\nBut he continued to work in films till 1998, that is, just past his 75th<\/sup>\nbirthday. He withdrew from films for a short five years from 1976 to 1981.\nDilip Kumar and his contemporary Raj Kumar played the lead roles in the 1991\nmega movie Saudagar<\/em> based on the drama of a feud between two estranged\nchildhood friends, Veeru Singh and Rajeshwar Singh (played by Dilip and Raj\nKumar respectively); a forbidden love affair between their grandchildren\n(Manisha Koirala and Vivek Mushran in the film) is a sort of sub-plot, as\ncritics have correctly shown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his nearly sixty years in films he acted in over sixty films.\nThis is against the seventy-two films that his erstwhile sweetheart Madhubala\nmanaged to do within a comparatively short span of less than twenty years. In\nthe case of Madhubala, only fifteen of her many films became successful at the\nbox-office, and she did not win any awards (which, however, was no reflection\non her abilities). Her fault was that she apparently didn\u2019t think of choosing\nher films with care. Dilip Kumar said, commenting on this lapse on her part,\nyears after her death: Had she selected her films with more care, she would\nhave been far superior to her contemporaries.\u201d  Dilip Kumar himself\nexercised forethought before he signed on to do films. It is known that he\nrejected a role in his friend Raj Kapoor\u2019s film Sangam<\/em>, which later\nbecame a big hit. Similarly, when the British film maker David Lean invited\nDilip Kumar to take up the role of Sherif Ali in his film Lawrence of Arabia\n<\/em>(1962), he declined the offer. This role was played by the Egyptian actor\nOmar Sherif with great aplomb. Dilip was not the sort of man to later regret\nhis decision to reject certain films that became successful. He had character,\nand he believed in his principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romantic alliances between stars excited great interest among\ntheir fans then as they do now. But such relationships were less raunchy and\nhad fewer cheap publicity stunts than what we hear about nowadays. In the case\nof Dilip Kumar, there were at least five women who were romantically linked\nwith his name. It appeared that Dilip and Vyjayanthimala enjoyed proper\nprofessional rapport, and made a good screen couple.  They acted in seven\nfilms together. That was the largest number of films Dilip did with a single\nfemale colleague. Though they were romantically linked by cine gossips, there\nwas no evidence of any such serious connection between them. Actually, there\nwere four women in his life in a serious sense, but Vyjayanthimala was not one\nof them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kamini Kaushal who starred in Chetan Anand\u2019s award winning Neecha\nNagar <\/em>(1946) was the first woman Dilip got romantically involved with. They\nwanted to marry, but the girl\u2019s family forced her to marry the brother of her\ndead husband instead, for she was at that time a young widow. Then it became\nMadhubala\u2019s chance to form an alliance with the handsome actor who had thus\nbeen thwarted in his first affair; they gelled marvelously in their\nprofessional and personal lives, though she was more than ten years younger\nthan Dilip. Unfortunately, Madhubala\u2019s family bonds, especially those with her\nfather, put paid to their six or seven year long affair (1951-1956). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1966, Dilip Kumar got married to beauty queen Saira Banu who\nwas twenty-two years his junior in age. Saira has said that she fell in love\nwith the man when she was only twelve. Then in the early 80\u2019s (1981-83), Dilip\nhad a brief marriage with a Pakistani woman called Asmaa, after which he\nreturned to Saira Banu, and remained with her until his death. Perhaps Dilip\nKumar never reached the ideal of perfect lover in real life, which revealed his\nfeet of clay, confirming the authenticity of his humanity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he was meticulous about guarding his honour in his\nprofessional and personal relationships with his female co-stars, as actresses\nlike Nimmi, Vyjayantimala, and Nanda attest in the \u2018Reminiscences\u2019 section of\nDilip Kumar\u2019s autobiography Dilip Kumar: The Substance and the Shadow\u201d (Hay\nHouse India, 2014) compiled by Udayatara Nayar. The last of the three stars\nmentioned above, Nanda (1939-2014) was the youngest. After many years of\ndreaming of getting a chance to act opposite Dilip Kumar whom she had adored so\nmuch, she was able to work with him in \u2018Mazdoor\u2019 (released in 1983) and she\nsaid to herself, Now your track record is complete, Nanda!\u201d Nanda died in March\n2014, about six months before Dilip\u2019s autobiography was published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dilip Kumar was a conscientious performer; he was a true\nprofessional who employed conscious artistry. He was the ultimate method\nactor\u201d according to Satyajit Ray. Amitabh Bacchan described Dilip as the\ngreatest actor ever. Shahrukh Khan once said: No one can copy him, and idiots\nlike me try to copy him.\u201d Acting as compere at a function to felicitate the\ncelebrated senior actor, Sharukh by himself unrolled the red carpet for him.\nWhen Dilip was awarded the Filmfare Best Actor Award for the eighth and last\ntime in 1982 a number of mega stars of younger generations than his (such as\nDharmendra and Rajesh Khanna) had already come and gone, or were in decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was the first to win the Filmfare Best Actor Award, which was\nin 1954. It was awarded for his role in Daag <\/em>(1952). Dilip was given the\nsame award again for Devdas (<\/em>1955), and yet again for Kohinoor <\/em>(1960).\nHe won another Filmfare Best Actor Award for Shakti <\/em>(1982) in\nwhich he played Amitabh Bacchan\u2019s father (the lead role in the film). In fact,\nhe was honoured with the Filmfare Best Actor Award eight times. He received the\nFilmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993. It would be educative for young\nactors today to watch all those films for which Dilip won the Filmfare Best\nActor Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Dilip Kumar was thus honoured by the industry, he was also\nhonoured  by both the Indian and Pakistan governments. In 1991 the Indian\ngovernment  gave him the Padma Bhushan Award, and later, in 1994, the\nDadasaheb Phalke Award. He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the Upper\nHouse of the Indian parliament for a term. The government of Pakistan conferred\non him the title of Nishan-e-Imtiaz in 1997. Dilip was honoured with the\nCNN-IBN Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An opportunity to serve the nation as a politician came to him\nwhen he was nominated to the upper house of the Indian parliament. He served in\nthis capacity from 2000 to 2006. Just as he did in his chosen field as a\nprofessional, Dilip Kumar played a conscientious role in politics. He dedicated\nhis efforts to bringing the Indians and Pakistanis together, and in this he\nsucceeded to a certain extent. He didn\u2019t allow politics to shake his belief in\nprinciples. The Kargil War, fought between India and Pakistan (both nuclear\nstates) from May to July in 1999 provoked by alleged Pakistani intrusions along\nthe line of control (LOC) between the two countries, led to much anger and\nagitation on both sides. Following the Kargil conflict, the Shiv Sena chief Bal\nThackeray demanded that Dilip return the Pakistan government\u2019s title given him\nthe previous year. Thackeray wanted Dilip to do this in protest against that\ncountry\u2019s blatant aggression on Indian soil\u201d. Predictably, the latter refused\nto do so. His explanation was:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 “This award was given to me for the humane activities\nto which I have dedicated myself. I have worked for the poor, I have worked for\nmany years to bridge the cultural and communal gaps between India and Pakistan.\nPolitics and religion have created these boundaries. I have striven to bring\nthe two people(s) together in whatever way I could. Tell me, what does any of\nthis have to do with the Kargil conflict?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was in consonance with his claim in a TV interview: I have always strongly\nendorsed the necessity for actors to possess a reasonable degree of social\nresponsibility. The actor who is adored by millions of people owes something to\nthe society, which has given him an elevated and highly respected position\u201d With\nsuch personal political and socio-ethical attitudes  Dilip Kumar proved\nthat he was not just a successful celluloid hero, but that he was a real life\nhero. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The substance endures, though the shadow has vanished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala I have always strongly endorsed the necessity for actors to possess a reasonable degree of social responsibility. The actor who is adored by millions of people owes something to the society, which has given him an elevated and highly respected position. Dilip Kumar\u00a0 Dilip Kumar was born in Peshawar (which is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rohana-r-wasala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116882\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}