Since morning television channels have been airing scenes of Dilip Kumar movies, each scene is a saga, each scene is a legend, each dialogue is history.
For cinema buff like me, discovering Dilip Kumar was no accident-my father was a huge fan. Every time his movies would be aired on DD, my father would talk about his artistic excellence.
So I discovered Dilip Kumar very early in my life-just over hearing my fathers critic of his movies. Discussing his flawless acting-which was so close to reality yet there was so much drama, such theatrical brilliance, such depth in it. Dilip Kumar gave hindi cinema a new way of acting. Acting through silence- long pauses between dialogues, that silence spoke millions of lines. His eyes acted, his entire body was in unison with his words. He made his characters real.
Be it a polished police officer, a judge or the rustic villager in Ram aur Sham or Naya Duar.
For my fathers generation which started going to movie theatres during 60s Dilip Kumar was the superstar . His movies were already legendary in 50s and 60s established his reign further . Although I was surprised to know that he has done only around 60 movies in career spanning decades, but there is not a single movie among them which is not worth a watch.
Who would forget the meticulously dressed actor singing ‘Suhana Safar aur yeah mausam hase’. The lock of hair on his forehead,he, I alway felt was too sexy and stylish for that era.
I felt he was not just king of tragedy but romance also, the peacock feather scene remains one of the most romantic and titillating scenes.
Even off screen Dilip Kumar aka Yusuf Khan’s persona was magnificent. Before dementia hit him, he seemed the most articulate and well read/ informed among his generation of actors.
Many actors like Amitabh Bachan and ShahRukh Khan took inspiration from him but no one could be him.
Someone rightly said the history of film industry will be written as before and after Dilip Kumar- RIP legend