Dilip Kumar

                                              Dilip Kumar

                       
Dilip Kumar is an Indian film actor. He debuted as an actor in the movie Jwar Bhata,
produced by Bombay Talkies. He is known as Tragedy King,
 and was described as "the ultimate method actor" by Satyajit Ray.
Born: December 11, 1922 (age 89), Peshawar
Full name: Muhammed Yusuf Khan
Spouse: Asmaa (m. 1982), Saira Banu (m. 1966)
Awards: Filmfare Best Actor Award
Siblings: Nasir Khan, Ehsan Khan, Aslam Khan


Today, on December 11, arguably the finest film actor the subcontinent ever produced was born in Peshawar to Hindko-speaking Pathan parents. Fourth in a family of 12 children, he was named Yusuf Khan. Sometime in the late twenties, the family moved to Bombay, where his father Ghulam Sarwar Khan set up a fruit business.

A shy young man, Yusuf did a job or two to support the family since the business wasn’t doing well in the War years. However, fate had something exciting in store for the young man, who ran into Devika Rani, the reigning heroine and chief executive of Bombay Talkies. As it turned out, her greatest contribution to the Indian cinema was the discovery of a person who was destined to become a legend in his lifetime. She offered him a film actor’s job on what was then a princely salary of Rs 500 with the prospects of an annual increase of Rs 200.

Yusuf Khan, she felt, was not a name to go well with a romantic hero. Of the three names suggested to him – Jehangir, Vasudev and Dilip Kumar – he chose the last. This, he thought, was also appropriate for it would hide his new occupation from his conservative father, who loathed all ‘nautankwalas’, as he used to call those associated with the cinema.

The chance meeting with Devika Rani altered the course of Dilip Kumar’s life but more than that it changed the trend in acting from loud and theatrical to a natural style both in action and in speech. To quote a critic, “he lent a meditative resonance to film acting.”

Amitabh Bachchan, a great performer himself, says: “He is a milestone for every upcoming actor. We have all been influenced by his dedication and versatility.”