Early life

Kumar was born Yusuf Khan into a Hindko-speaking Awan family of 12 children on 11 December 1922 at his house in the Qissa Khawani Bazaar area of Peshawar, in what is now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. His father, Lala Ghulam Sarwar, was a landlord and fruit merchant who owned orchards in Peshawar and Deolali (in Maharashtra, India). Dilip Kumar did schooling from prestigious Barnes School, Deolali, near Nasik. In the late 1930s, his family of 12 members relocated to Mumbai.

Around 1940, while still in his teens and after an altercation with his father, Dilip Kumar left home for Pune. With the help of an Iranian cafe owner, and an elderly Anglo-Indian couple, Kumar met a canteen contractor Taj Mohammad Shah, an acquaintance of his father from Peshawar days. Without letting on his family antecedents, he got the job on the merit of his knowledge of good written and spoken English. He managed to set up a sandwich stall at the army club and when the contract ended he headed home to Bombay having saved Rs. 5000. In 1942, anxious to start some venture to help out his father with household finances, he met Dr. Masani at Churchgate Station, who asked him to accompany him to Bombay Talkies, in Malad. Here he met actress Devika Rani, owner of Bombay Talkies, who asked him to sign up with the company on a pay of Rs. 1250 per year. Here he met actor Ashok Kumar who was to influence his acting style telling him to act "natural". He also met Sashadhar Mukherjee, and both these people became very close to Kumar over the years. Initially, Kumar helped out in the story-writing and scripting department because of his proficiency in Urdu language. Devika Rani requested to change his name from Yousuf to Dilip Kumar, and later cast him in a lead role for the film Jwar Bhata (1944), which marked Dilip Kumar's entry into the Hindi film industry.

Career

1940s

Dilip Kumar's first film, Jwar Bhata (1944) went unnoticed, it was Jugnu (1947) in which he starred alongside Noor Jehan that became his first major hit at the box office. His next major hit was the 1948 film Shaheed. He got his breakthrough role with Mehboob Khan's Andaz (1949) in which he starred alongside Raj Kapoor and Nargis in a love triangle story. Shabnam also released that year was also a hit.

1950s

He went on to have success in the 1950s with playing leading roles in romantic films like Jogan (1950), Tarana (1951) Hulchul (1951) Deedar (1951), Aan (1952) Daag (1952), Uran Khatola (film) Devdas (1955), Yahudi (1958) and Madhumati (1958). He also played an anti-hero in Mehboob Khan's Amar (1954).In the films he was cast opposite Noor Jehan and Kamini Kaushal, it was female lead whose name would appear first in credits and female actress were paid more than him. These films established his screen image as the "Tragedy King". He also starred in many social drama films like Footpath (1953), Naya Daur (1957), Musafir (1957) and Paigham (1959). He was the first actor to win the Filmfare Best Actor Award for Daag and went on to win it a further seven times in his career. He formed popular on-screen pairings with many of the top actresses at the time including Madhubala, Vyjayanthimala, Nargis, Nimmi, Meena Kumari, Saroja Devi and Kamini Kaushal. In an attempt to shed his "tragedy king" image, Dilip Kumar took up his psychiatrist's suggestion that he take on lighthearted roles. In Mehboob Khan's blockbuster musical Aan (1952) he played a swashbuckling peasant in what marked his first film in technicolor. He co-starred with Devanand in Insaniyat in 1955 and with Rajkumar in Paigham in 1959. He had further success with lighter roles as a thief in Azaad (1955) and a royal prince in Kohinoor (1960) In 1960 he portrayed Prince Salim in K. Asif's big-budget epic historical film Mughal-e-Azam which as of 2008 was the second highest grossing film in Hindi film history. The film told the story of Prince Salim who revolts against his father Akbar (played by Prithviraj Kapoor) and falls in love with a courtesan (played by Madhubala). The film was mostly shot in black and white, only some scenes in the latter half of the film in colour. 44 years after its original release, it was fully colourized and re-released in 2004.

1960s

Kohinoor and Mughal E Azam, both were blockbusters in 1960. In 1961, he produced and starred in Ganga Jamuna in which he starred opposite his frequent leading lady, Vyjayanthimala and his brother Nasir Khan, this was the only film he produced. In 1962 British director David Lean offered him the role of "Sherif Ali" in his film Lawrence of Arabia (1962), but Dilip Kumar declined to perform in the movie. The role eventually went to Omar Sharif, the Egyptian actor. Dilip Kumar comments in his much later released autobiography, "he thought Omar Sharif had played the role far better than he himself could have". His next film Leader (1964) was a below average grosser at the box office. He was the co-director alongside Abdul Rashid Kardar of his next release Dil Diya Dard Liya in 1966 but was uncredited as director. The critcs were of opinion that the film was slow paced and whole film was a let down and only positive point of the film was Pran's performance. In 1967 Kumar played a dual role of twins separated at birth in the hit film Ram Aur Shyam. In 1968 he starred alongside Manoj Kumar and Waheeda Rehman in Aadmi.Again when the film Sangarsh released, critics praised Sanjeev Kumar's performance and said Sanjeev outdid Dilip performance wise.In the period, 1960 to 1970, Dilip and Raj Kapoor did not enjoy as much success in films and their popularity reduced. Actors Ashok Kumar, Devanand, Pran, Rajendra Kumar continued to enjoy more success even in 1960's to 1980s in comparison to Dilip and Raj Kapoor.

1970s

His career slumped in the 1970s with films like Dastaan (1972) and Bairaag (1976), the latter in which he played triple roles failing at the box office. He starred alongside his real-life wife Saira Banu in Gopi (1970) which was success, Bengali film Sagina Mahato (1970) and Bairaag (1976) but both failed to do well at the box office. Though his performance in Bairaag and Gopi were critically acclaimed, he lost many film offers to act in lead roles to actors Rajesh Khanna and Sanjeev Kumar from 1968-1987.He took a five-year hiatus from films from 1976 to 1981.

1980s

In 1981, he returned to films with the multi-starrer Kranti which was the biggest hit of the year. Appearing alongside an ensemble cast including Manoj Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Hema Malini and Shatrughan Sinha, he played the title role as a revolutionary fighting for India's independence from British rule. He then formed a successful collaboration with Subhash Ghai starting with Vidhaata (1982) in which he starred alongside Sanjay Dutt, Sanjeev Kumar and Shammi Kapoor. Later that year he starred alongside the reigning superstar of the time Amitabh Bachchan in Ramesh Sippy's Shakti for which he won yet another Filmfare Award for Best Actor. In 1984 he starred in Yash Chopra's Mashaal and Ramesh Talwar's Duniya opposite Anil Kapoor and Pran-Rishi Kapoor respectively.

His second collaboration with Subhash Ghai came with the 1986 action film Karma. In this film, Kumar played a jailor who hires three men (played by Naseeruddin Shah, Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor) to help him avenge his family's death by escaped terrorist Doctor Dang (played by Anupam Kher). This was also the first film which paired him opposite veteran actress Nutan.

1990s

In 1991, he starred alongside fellow veteran actor Raaj Kumar in Saudagar, his third and last film with Subhash Ghai. This was his second film with Raaj Kumar after 1959's Paigham. Saudagar was Kumar's last box office success and also his last film for several years. In 1993 he won the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. He was attached to make his directorial debut with a film titled Kalinga but the film was eventually shelved.

In 1998 he made his last film appearance in Qila, where he played dual roles as an evil landowner who is murdered and his twin brother who tries to solve the mystery of his death. India Today in their review dismissed Kumar's dialogue delivery out of sync.

2000s

In 2001 he was set to appear in a film titled Asar — The Impact alongside Ajay Devgan which was shelved. His films Mughal-e-Azam and Naya Daur were fully colorized and re-released in 2004 and 2008 respectively.

Other career highlights

• Kumar was very choosy, and turned down lead roles in many films which eventually were released to great box office success, including Lawrence of Arabia, Pyaasa and Sangam.
• Several of his films remain unreleased and unfinished such as Jaanwar, Shikwa and Aag Ka Dariya.
• One of his unfulfilled wishes was he never got opportunity to star opposite Rajesh Khanna in any film.
• During his career, Kumar was most often voiced Mukesh from 1948 to 1958 and later by Mohammed Rafi till 1976. Others who provided his voice include Talat Mahmood.In 1970s Dilip Kumar career had slumped and to cash in on popularity of Kishore Kumar, Kishore was chosen to do playback of the song "Saala Main To Saab Bangaya" and for duet Tumre Sang Toh for the film Sagina (film) (1974).
• It is opposite actress Vyjanthimala and Kamini Kaushal, that he has the maximum box office hits.
• He sang a song, 'Laagi nahi chhote raama chaahe jiya jaaye' with Lata Mangeshkar in a movie 'Musafir'.

Public life

Dilip Kumar was nominated as Indian National Congress Candidate from Maharashtra State as member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament for a term 03/04/2000 to 02/04/2006.

He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994. In 1998 he was awarded the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, the highest civilian award conferred by the government of Pakistan. He is the second Indian to receive the award. At the time of the Kargil War, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray demanded Dilip Kumar return his Nishan-e-Imtiaz, citing "that country's blatant aggression on Indian soil." Dilip Kumar refused, saying:

"This award was given to me for the humane activities to which I have dedicated myself. I have worked for the poor, I have worked for many years to bridge the cultural and communal gaps between India and Pakistan. Politics and religion have created these boundaries. I have striven to bring the two people together in whatever way I could. Tell me, what does any of this have to do with the Kargil conflict?"

Dilip Kumar launched his Twitter account and his first tweet was on his 89th birthday in 2011.

Personal life

Dilip Kumar was first in love with the actress Kamini Kaushal, but they could not marry due to her being married to her deceased sister's husband. Subsequently, he was also in love with the actress Madhubala but they had to part ways as her family was opposed to their marriage. Vyjayanthimala, was considered by film fans as Dilip Kumar's third love; they have denied any rumours of an affair. Both of them have had many successful films as a pair in the period 1955 to 1968. He married actress Saira Banu, who was 22 years younger than him, in 1966.He married a second time in 1980 to Asma as he wanted to father a child, but the marriage ended soon after. Dilip Kumar for first time in his life undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca in 2013 along with his wife Saira Banu.

Illness

Around 10 September 2011 it surfaced that the health of Kumar is worsening. Some tweets mistakenly spread news of his death. Later, Saira Banu made a public statement that Kumar is in good health and in high spirits. On 15 September 2013, at age of 90, Kumar suffered a silent heart attack and was subsequently admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai. He had undergone heart surgery 14 years before. In December 2014 and April 2016 he was again hospitalized for pneumonia and admitted to Lilavati under ICU.

Awards and popularity

Dilip Kumar is widely considered as one of the greatest actors in the history of Hindi cinema. He holds the Guinness World Record for winning the maximum number of awards by an Indian actor. He has received many awards throughout his career, including 8 Filmfare Best Actor awards and 19 Filmfare nominations. He was honoured with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.

Dilip Kumar was appointed Sheriff of Mumbai (an honorary position) in 1980, the Government of India honoured Kumar with the Padma Bhushan in 1991, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015. The Government of Andhra Pradesh honoured Kumar with NTR National Award in 1997. The Government of Pakistan conferred Kumar with Nishan-e-Imtiaz, the highest civilian award in Pakistan, in 1997. The ruling political party of Shiv Sena in Maharashtra had objected on this award and questioned Kumar's patriotism. However, in 1999 in consultation with the then Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Kumar retained the award. He was honored with CNN-IBN Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.

Filmography

Main article: Dilip Kumar filmography

[ Source: Wikipedia ]