RIP Dilip Kumar: Bollywood’s golden troika fades away

Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor were professional rivals and contemporaries – but great off-screen friends

With thespian Dilip Kumar's death on Wednesday, the Hindi film industry’s golden troika seems to fade away – but their volume of work will continue to shine.

Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor – who were of the same age group – formed the troika; their films ruled the fifties and sixties and so did their larger-than-life persona.

They were professional rivals and contemporaries – but great off-screen friends. Their films raised issues of the common man, and they inspired generations and made hearts flutter.

Read | Dilip Kumar: A star who brought realism to Bollywood

The volume of work of Dilip Kumar (11 December, 1922 – 6 July, 2021), Raj Kapoor (14 December, 1924 – 2 June, 1988) and Dev Anand (26 September, 1923 – 3 December, 2011) - will continue to inspire generations of actors to come.

Dilip Kumar in Mughal-e-Azam, Raj Kapoor in Awaara and Dev Anand's Guide are among those which stand out as ahead of their times in terms of story, concept and production.

All of them came from undivided Punjab – while Dev Anand was from Gurudaspur, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor were from Peshawar.

The legendary Kundan Lal Saigal is often referred to as the first superstar, and then came Ashok Kumar.

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Thereafter, the golden troika ruled the film industry before Rajesh Khanna came in. Then came the era of Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Jitendra, Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha. Subsequently, the Khans – Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir – took over.

What is interesting is that for nearly two decades, the troika delivered mega hits.

Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand never worked together. However, Dilip Kumar did a film with each one of them — Mehboob Khan’s Andaz with Raj Kapoor and SS Vasan’s Insaniyat with Dev Anand.