MUMBAI: The 100th birth anniversary of Dilip Kumar, the man who inspired Bollywood and continues to do so, is being celebrated across the globe today.
After having born of December 11, 1922 in a humble family, he went onto achieve dizzying heights in Bollywood. There have been many actors and filmmakers in Bollywood who have confessed that they chose Bollywood as a career, only after being inspired by the all-time great actor Dilip Kumar.
In New Delhi, the Film Heritage Foundation organised a two-day film festival titled Dilip Kumar Hero of Heroes. Indian media reports suggest Saira Banu arrived at the opening ceremony of the film festival, and upon seeing a poster of the late megastar, appeared teary-eyed.
The veteran actress looked evergreen in a black kurta set. Farida Jalal, Asha Parikh, Waheeda Rehman, Prem Chopra, Shatrughan Sinha’s wife Poonam Sinha, Ramesh Sippy, Divya Dutta and other celebs were also spotted at the screening.
Born as Mohammad Yususf Khan, it was the famous Hindi author Bhagwati Charan Varma, who gave him the screen name ‘Dilip Kumar’. It is said that before entering Bollywood, Dilip Kumar used to sell fruits and sandwich in Pune. He has the unique achievement to his credit for being the only actor at his times who played triple roles. It was Dilip Kumar who had played a triple role in his movie ‘Bairaag’.
Besides being an actor par excellence, Dilip Kumar was also a multi-linguist. He could speak multiple languages with utmost ease. These languages included Pashto, Hindko, Urdu, Hindi, and English. The late Dilip Kumar was a man of many talents. Besides acting, he was an equal pro in playing trumpet and also in the musical game of ‘Antakshari’.
