Dilip Kumar, the undisputed Tragedy King turns 98

Thespian Dilip Kumar, the undisputed Tragedy King of the silver screen, turned 98 on Friday.

With his looks, acting skills, dialogue-delivery, he is not only idolised in India, but also across the world. Be it Devdas, Madhumati, Mughal-e-Azam, Kranti or Shakti, he had left audiences spellbound.

While Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan describe him one of the “greatest actor ever”, the late Satyajit Ray had described him as “the ultimate method actor”.

Also read — Birthday special: Five evergreen classics that prove Dilip Kumar is irreplaceable

He is a recipient of the coveted Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awards and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. He is also a former Rajya Sabha member.

He was born on December 11, 1922, in Peshawar to a Pashtun family, which traded in fruits. His family later relocated to Mumbai.

Around 1940, Dilip Kumar left home for Pune where he started his career as a canteen owner and a dry fruit supplier. In 1943, actress Devika Rani, and her husband Himanshu Rai, who owned Bombay Talkies spotted Dilip Kumar in Aundh military canteens in Pune, and cast him with a lead role in their film Jwar Bhata (1944), which marked Dilip Kumar's entry into the Bollywood film industry.

Hindi author Bhagwati Charan Varma gave him the screen name Dilip Kumar.

He went on to appear in many hit films including Mela (1948), Andaz (1949), Deedar (1951), Devdas (1955), Yahudi (1958) and Madhumati (1958). These films established his screen image as the "Tragedy King". The trio of Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar were the biggest stars of that time. He got Filmfare awards for best actor for Daag in 1953 and consecutively for Azad (1955), Devdas (1956), Naya Daur (1957) etc. His other successful film during this time were Mughal-e-Azam (1960), Madhumati, Ganga Jamuna (1961) which saw one of the best performances in his career and Ram aur Shyam (1967).

In between, his continuous tragic roles gave a high handedness to his characters from which he consciously tried to break free. He began to accept more light-hearted films in which also he excelled. His versatility is seen in films like Ganga Jamuna and the comedy Ram aur Shyam, two of the best roles of his career, wherein he plays a double role.

In 1960, he portrayed Prince Salim in the historical film Mughal-e-Azam, which was one of the highest-grossing films in Hindi film history. In 1961, he produced and starred in Ganga Jamuna in which he and his brother Nasir Khan played the title roles. This was the only film he produced.

In 1981, he returned with the multi-starrer Kranti which was the biggest hit of the year. He went onto play character roles in hit films including Shakti (1982), Vidhaata (1982), Mashaal (1984) and Karma (1986). In 1991, he starred alongside veteran actor Raaj Kumar in Saudagar, which was his last successful film.

Dilip Kumar married actress and beauty queen Saira Banu in the year 1966 when she was 22.

In a career spanning over five decades, this veteran actor, with his fine performances, has found a place in the world of Hindi films that few could vie for, though he retains that his first love was never cinema but soccer.