JOIN USDilip Kumar's ancestral house in Pakistan to be turned into a museum
The ancestral home of legendary actor Dilip Kumar, who passed away on Wednesday aged 98, will be converted into a museum along with the home of another Bollywood legend Raj Kapoor in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The late Hindi film legend was born as Yousuf Khan in Peshawar, erstwhile in British India, now in Pakistan, on December 11, 1922.
Mourning the death of the famed actor, Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial government said he will always be remembered for the love and affection he had for the people of his ancestral hometown.
Last month, the local government approved the purchase of the ancestral homes of legendary actors. “The land (homes of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor) will vest in the name of acquiring Department i.e. Director Archaeology and Museums,” a notification issued by the Deputy Commissioner’s office said.
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A Peshawar-based spokesman for Dilip Kumar, Faisal Faroqui, has reportedly said that the Indian legendary actor always discussed his association and sweet memories with his birthplace and the ancestral home in Mohallah Khudadad where he was born before moving to India in 1935.
The family and the fans of the legend were enthusiastic over the provincial government's decision to convert the historic building into a museum to honour him and preserve its contribution to the Indian cinema, he had said.
Kumar's over 100-year-old ancestral house is located in the Qissa Khwani Bazar locality.
The house is in shambles and was declared as a national heritage in 2014 by the then Nawaz Sharif government.
The owners of the buildings made several attempts in the past to demolish them for constructing commercial plazas at a prime location but all such moves were stopped as the archaeology department wanted to preserve them, keeping in view their historic importance.
(With inputs from agencies)