Daily Times

Since my childhood, I have been mesmerised by Dilip Kumar’s acting, especially when he was paired with Madhubala in the films ‘Tarana’ and ‘Sangdil.’

I admit that I saw these movies more than once. Another factor that attracted me in these films was music by Anil Biswas and Sajjad Hussain respectively. Actress Tabassum disclosed in one of the episodes of her programme Tabasum Talkies that whenever Madhubala spoke of love she saw it in Dilip Kumar’s eyes especially when the movie Tarana was filmed. In those days of 1950s Indian films were allowed for exhibition in Pakistan. The nascent Pakistani film industry had to compete with Indian films. Dilip Kumar used his acting prowess in may shades like total romance in the song ‘Dil Main Samaa Gaye Sajjan’ with Madhubala in Tarana or all-out flirtation with actor Shammi in the song ‘Yei Hawa Yei Raat Yei Chandni’ in Sangdil. The song ‘Mitwa’ from the movie ‘Devdas’ composed by S. D. Burman and rendered by Talat Mahmud is another example of Dilip Kumar’s acting emitting pathos. Surprisingly Talat Mahmud and Lata Mangeshkar’s voices suited this couple as tailor-made vocals.

On June 6, Partha Chakraborty of Indian social media in his post titled Dilip Kumar – The Tragedy King reported, ‘Veteran actor Dilip Kumar has been admitted to Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai this morning. The actor was having difficulty breathing for the past few days. Dilip Kumar’s wife Saira Bano said that Dilip Saheb has been admitted to non-Covid PD Hinduja Hospital for routine checkup. He had difficulty breathing for the past several days. Dr. in the hospital Nitin Gokhale’s team is looking after him. Saira Bano has appealed to the people that please keep praying for Sahab and you also stay safe’. For the last couple of days social media has also erroneously reporting the Dilip Kumar is no more, news constantly denied by his family. After having grown with Dilip’s work since my childhood, it was but natural for me to express my opinion on this legendary actor.

I noticed that one thing common in the two legends Nurjehan and Dilip Kumar was the unusual weather conditions; windy and tumultuous at the time of their births. On December 11 in 1922 a blizzard was raging outside and a fire engulfed the Goldsmith’s Lane in Qissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar, Ayesha Bibi, the wife of Mohammad Sarwar Khan, gave birth to a son. It was the birth of a male child, fourth in the family and was named Yousuf Khan.

I noticed that one thing common in the two legends Nurjehan and Dilip Kumar was the unusual weather conditions; windy and tumultuous at the time of their births. On December 11, 1922 a blizzard was raging outside and a fire engulfed the Goldsmith’s Lane in Qissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar, Ayesha Bibi, the wife of Muhammad Sarwar Khan, gave birth to a son

In case of Nurjehan the opening paragraph of my submission on Nurjehan from my book ‘Melody Singer’ 1 shall quote ‘Cool breeze had started blowing in the gas lamps on roads of Kasur city but streets and habitats were dark. It was a night of September 21, 1926. Those were the days when people retired early for bed. In a small house in Kot Murad, Kasur, Mian Saheb took out match box and lit a lamp. Call for Isha prayers were in the air. Main Saheb was wondering as to when Ellahi Jan would bring ‘Issaan’, the ‘Da’ai’ with her! Main Saheb had dispatched two sons and a daughter elsewhere as a new arrival was in the offing. Poverty stricken house had no milk or sugar. All Mian Saheb could do was to pray hard. Half an hour later Issaan who had appeared earlier informed that a girl was born to Mian Saheb and Fateh Bibi. Two seers of wheat and one seer of Gur was all the nurse was content with as her payment. Maternal Aunt Ellahi Jaan, a reasonable good singer of that time, put a little sugar in the newborn’s mouth as ‘Gurti’. It is believed that a person who gives ‘Gurti’ to the baby also transmits her/his qualities in the newborn. She commented to her brother that the way the child cried meant she would be a good singer one day. Perhaps the ‘gurti’ of her paternal aunt much later made Allah Wasaai, Nurjehan of the millennium’.

The situation on the birth of these legends was almost similar and they turned out to be great actors when they grew up with four years age difference. Nurjehan concentrated more towards the art of singing and Dilip Kumar remained content with singing just one duet with Lata for his 1957 film ‘Musafir’ in the music of Salil Chaudhry. This film was the debut movie for Hrishikesh Mukherjee as a director. It had music by Salil Chaudhry. Dilip’s vocals were filmed on Dilip himself but Lata’s vocals were kept in the background of Usha Kiran’s facial expressions. This movie had Suchitra Sen, Kishore Kumar also in important roles.

Being the fourth child in the family of eleven born to Muhammad Sarwer Khan was not an easy task for Yousuf Khan as he had to assist his father in fruit merchandise from young age. In school Yousuf Khan by nature grew up as an introvert, being shy, reserved and alienated. He enjoyed being alone but his hobby was to imitate the ladies, men and even a Masjid’s Maulana. Hence mimicry was an in-born talent. In the mid-1930s the family moved to Bombay, settled at Deolali where Yousuf was admitted to Barnes School where he learnt English, played soccer and other games and use library for reading the European authors and Urdu writers. He joined the Khalsa College in Central Bombay where he met Raj Kapoor after a long time who was an extrovert.

The dream of Yousuf’s father was to see Yousuf Khan win OBE. After struggle of few years, Dilip became producer and philanthropist as well. His debut film ‘Jawar Bhata’ was a flop. After a minor argument with Agha Ji (his father) Yousuf left for Poona with Rs 40 in his pocket. There he spoke to the Iranian owner of a café in Persian. Yousuf was called Chico…a Spanish word which means ‘a lad’. He established sandwich business there. When he made a speech in a club, police came, handcuffed him and took him to jail for having expressed anti-British views. In the jail the jailor called him Gandhiwala.

After the success of ‘Jugnu’ in 1947, Dilip came out with few releases including family drama Ghar Ki Izzat, war-drama Shaheed, romantic-tragedy Mela and romance Anokha Pyar. Kumar’s last release of 1948 was Nadiya Ke Paar which emerged as year’s highest grossing Indian film. During this year rumour of his romance with Kamini Kaushal, the heroine hit the town. In 1949, he featured alongside Raj Kapoor in Mehboob Khan’s Andaz opposite Nargis. This love triangle at the time of its release was the highest-grossing Indian film ever. The three stars were handsome and young at that time and the cinema goers loved them.

When in Bombay, Dilip Kumar, one Dr. Masani introduced him to Devika Rani of the Bombay Talkies. She told him that he would be paid Rs 1,250 a month if he acted in films. Raj Kapoor was getting Rs 170 a month in those days. It was Devika Rani who gave him the name Dilip Kumar. Most of the Muslim celebrities used Hindu names for films. In Pakistan Santosh Kumar was film name for Syed Musa Raza whose family had migrated from Indian Hyderabad to Lahore. His brother Syed Ishrat Abbas opted for the name Darpan.

Apart from Dilip’s earlier movies, some of Dilip Kumar’s films in this period were Jawar Bhata, Pratima, Milan, Shabnam, Jogan, Arzoo, Hulchul and Deedar, Daagh. The latter film won Dilip Kumar Filmfare Award for Best Actor. All these films had a popular song or two to offer. The next film that helped in further growth of Dilip Kumar as an actor was Sangdil where Dilip portrayed the role of rich landlord Shankar. RC Talwar was the director of this film. Talat Mahmud’s songs ‘Yei Haawa Yei Raat Yei Chandini’ and ‘Kahan Ho Kahan Mere Jeevan Sahare’ excelled because of superb filming by Dilip Kumar. RC Talwar was the director of this film. Music was given by Sajjad Hussain with Lata Mangeshkar singing ‘Woh Tau Chale Gaye Aei Dil Yaad Sei Unki Pyar Kar’ for Madhubala.

It was in early 1950s when the film ‘Tarana’ was released in Sanober Cinema in Lahore. In those days Indian movies used to be exhibited in Pakistan as well. Madhubala was paired with Dilip Kumar in this film. This was their first film together. Both were very natural in their acting as though they were sincerely and innocently in love. Her calling her baby lamb Saiyyan that made Dilip jealous as she declares she could not live without it if it was out of her sight for a minute was an interesting sequence. The sigh of relief on Dilip’s face on finding her beloved to be a pet and Madhubala’s innocence bringing him closer to her. The filming of the duet ‘Nain Mile Nain Hue Banwere’ by Lata and Talat Mahmud is a consequence of this deep attachment. The melody and innocence surpasses the artificial glamour of nowadays cinema. If you listen to the song – ‘Seeeny Mein Sulagtey Hein Armaan’ sung by Talat Mehmood and Lata Mangeshkar, the tranquil beauty of this song takes you to the serene heights of mountains with the loveliness of its flowers and jungles. This movie, I am surprised did not do well on box office in India in 1952 but was a roaring success in Pakistan. This movie showed frank and innocent, almost real love between the pair. The other beauty of this movie was music given by composer Anil Biswas. The movie’s music still bewitches many belonging to that generation; the earnest music lovers.

According to Wikipedia, ‘Dilip Kumar acted in twenty-three films from 1944 up to 1954. Majority of the roles required deep emotional acting. For a natural actor like Dilip Kumar, such acting used to leave a negative influence on his personality. Dr WD Nicholas, a British psychiatrist, advised him to switch over to comedy because he had performed many tragic roles with adverse effect. Taking his physician’s advice seriously, in 1955 he acted in Azaad and proved that he would excel in a comic role. He selected the stories of the Dilip Kumar ventured into was colour film ‘Aan’ by director Mehboob Khan. It was a smashing hit with a spoiled princess’s role by Nadira and Robin Hood like role played by Dilip Kumar riding a horse. Music by Naushad Ali and Lata-Rafi songs became popular. Nimmi acted marvellously. Muhammad Rafi’s song ‘Maan Mera Ehsan’ is quoted as one of the representative songs of this film.

The other films during this period were Shikast in 1953 directed by Ramesh Saigal and Footpath in which Dilip played the role of Noshu in this Zia Sarhadi directed film. Tired of being poor, Noshu, a newspaperman abandons his moralities and starts to make money as a black marketer. He gains his fortune but ruins his brother’s life causing him to lose his job, his home and his wife whilst simultaneously losing his own self-respect and that of his former neighbours and his girlfriend Meena Kumari. Tormented by his conscience, he writes an expose of the illegal trade but cannot prevent his own brother becoming a victim when an epidemic rages unchecked because criminals have stock-piled all the medicine. For the song “Sham-e-Gham Ki Kasam” sung by Talat Mahmood, lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri and poet Sardar Jafri came together for the first and last time to pen a song. Composer Khayyam gave Asha Bhosle her first cabaret in Hindi films “Arra Rum Rum Rum” in this film. This film was produced by Chandulal J Shah. This movie left a depressing impact on both hero and heroine.

Constantine Stanislavski, the Great Russian actor and director, is known to have evolved a method and applied the Emotional Memory technique in acting. He acted from the internal as well as the external, lived in the silences or pauses and never lost sense of truth and love of art. Dilip Kumar developed this skill much before Marlin Brando did. Great directors appreciated Dilip Kumar evolved a method and applied the Emotional Memory technique. Celebrities such as Yash Chopra dubbed him as a spontaneous actor, Shabana Azmi stated the he changed the course of acting in Indian Cinema and writer Salim Khan stated that Dilip Kumar had brought divine spirituality to acting and converted his profession into worship. Director Raj Kapoor was so overwhelmed with the acting of Dilip Kumar that during shooting his film ‘Prem Rog’, he shouted at his son Rishi Kapoor, “Mujhe Yousuf chahiye”. Director Ramesh Sippy calls Dilip Kumar “the greatest actor of all times”.

As per Wikipedia, Dilip Kumar used to select films with utmost care and a sense of perfection. For him the choice of subject, actors, music composition, and cinematography and art direction were of much importance for the quality of the final product. He took active part in the making of a film with utmost care and a sense of perfection. He learnt management skills and creative processes. For him the choice of subject, actors, music composition, and cinematography and art direction were of much importance for the quality of the final product. He took active part in the making of a film. During this period the only action cum romance venture he ventured into the first colour film ‘Aan’. He learnt management skills and creative processes.

As per Wikipedia ‘Dilip Kumar speaks Tamil, Telugu, Konkani, Gujarati, Parsi Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi, Hindi, Persian, French, German and Urdu immaculately. On his advice Lata Mangeshkar engaged a learned maulana to teach her the correct pronunciation of Urdu words. Both of them sang a duet for Musafir. Dilip Kumar recites the Quran, Sanskrit verses from the Gita and quotes from the Bible. He is an outstanding orator, scriptwriter and intellectual. He has a large collection of books in English, Urdu and some other languages on various subjects. One day he addressed a medical conference, which showed his knowledge of medicine. He is a mimic par excellence and a superb dancer. He is simple, childlike, genial, mischievous and trusting. He mastered soccer, badminton, cricket, hockey, golf, bridge and chess’.

Dilip Kumar stayed home in an outhouse detached from the main house where his siblings lived. He did not participate in the domestic politics. He read books and enjoyed nature. His friend actor Mukri used to give him company. He used to participate in the rituals of all religions. He loved kite flying. He never allowed his guests leave his house without taking home-made food. He used to remain concerned if his technicians were fed well. At home he did not like to sleep alone. He desired to leave a light on in his bedroom. In films he allowed intimacy shots only to the extent that a family could watch it.

The article has been written and contributed by Dr Amjad Parvez who is the recipient of the prestigious Pride of Performance award. He can be reached at doc_amjad@hotmail.com