On December 9, 2013, during a visit to Pakistan, I met Saeed Ahmed, the author of Dilip Kumar: Ahadnama-e-Mohabbat, at his Model Town residence in Lahore. He informed me that in Pakistan there are a few individuals who, every year, on December 11, gather at Dilip Kumar’s ancestral home in Peshawar to celebrate his birthday. As a Dilip Kumar fan himself, Saeed Ahmed is a part of the group. Unfortunately, that year, due to fever and cough, he was not going to Peshawar. He was sad about missing this annual ritual. This anecdote reflects the respect Dilip Kumar commands beyond the physical borders of India. In Bollywood, many actors from succeeding generations have tried to imitate Dilip Kumar’s acting style but no one is his true successor, even though some of them have achieved stardom. On Dilip Kumar’s screen roles, Lord Meghnand Desai, in his book Nehru’s Hero: Dilip Kumar in the Life of India, has correctly portrayed him as a Nehruvian hero. Inadvertently, or by sheer choice, in a few of his post-independence films, Dilip Kumar has played characters imbued with the political agenda of India’s first prime minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. Those characters acted as a medium to transmit or disseminate the values needed to confront existing social problems and economic underdevelopment in the early decades of post-independence India. In his second innings he played different roles because the situation had changed. Now he was an honest police officer (in Shakti or Karma) fighting against criminals and trying to implement the rule of law, or he was an honest journalist (in Mashal), fighting against social ills like corruption, etc. In both innings, his acting was engrossing. The perfectness was such that his onscreen character in Ganga Jamuna, Naya Daur, Gopi, etc, make many believe that Dilip Kumar was either from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar (two Hindi/Bhojpuri speaking states in India). This list of many includes Amitabh Bachan. In this autobiography, narrated by Dilip Kumar and written by Udaya Tara Nayar, he starts with his birthplace of Kissa Khawani Bazaar in Peshawar, which, as he mentions, was famous for story telling and story listening. The city was blessed with pristine beauty. After achieving stardom he visited Peshawar in 1988 to inaugurate the first blood bank in that city. Using that opportunity, General Ziaul Haq’s military government decided to welcome him as a state guest. Later on, in 1998, the government of Pakistan conferred on him the highest civilian award, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz. Unfortunately, at present Peshawar and the entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has become a base for radicals and militancy.Like a few others, Dilip Kumar too decided to become an actor accidentally. He is a family man. As mentioned in this autobiography, he supported his siblings to achieve their goals. Some tried and failed, others annoyed him through their decisions; still, he was there for everyone. Not only his family members, Dilip Kumar has also helped a few individuals during their struggling phase in Bollywood. In her reminiscences, yesteryear actress Mumtaz writes that after she was given a role in Ram aur Shyam by Dilip Kumar, her career took a major leap forward. Prior to this, actors who were not even of the stature of Dilip Kumar refused to work with her. In this autobiography, for the first time Dilip Kumar has revealed why he could not get married to Madhubala. This is interesting because there are many versions of his love affair and reasons behind the separation in the gossip market. In chapter 13 of the book he presents his side of the story. He mentions that, contrary to popular notions, Madhubala’s father, Ataullah Khan, was not opposed to her marrying him. He had his own production company and he was only too glad to have two stars under the same roof. Ataullah Khan’s business intentions made Dilip Kumar break his relationship with Madhubala, though they worked together in K Asif’s blockbuster Mughal-e-Azam. He says that she did not try hard to persuade her father. He has also disclosed how he married Saira Bano, who is half his age, and their post-marital life. Also, he has talked about his short-lived second marriage to Asma Rehman. Talking about his professional career, Dilip Kumar begins with his encounter with Devika Rani, who gave Yousaf Khan his screen name. He has talked about his films and people like Ashok Kumar, S Mukherjee and Nargis with whom he had a great rapport. As an honest artist, from his formative days he worked because of his interest in the character, and not for money. Dilip Kumar has also talked about his non-Bollywood friends and has shared various anecdotes with the reader. With the march of time, the subjects of films will change and acting styles will amorphously transform, yet Dilip Kumar will remain a role model for people in the Indian film industry. Most of his films are evergreen and his on-screen characters are immortal. They will remain so forever. The reviewer is a PhD student in South Asian Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. He specialises in Indian internal security and foreign policy as well as regional water conflicts