From Lata Mangeshkar and Amitabh Bachchan to younger talent like Farhan Akhtar and Riteish Deshmukh -- celebrities from the film world on Monday wished the legendary Dilip Kumar good health and a long life on his 95th birthday.
Dilip Kumar debuted as an actor in "Jwar Bhata". His career has spanned over six decades and over 65 films. He was later seen in films like "Andaz", "Babul", "Deedar", "Aan", "Devdas", "Azaad", "Naya Daur", "Yahudi", "Madhumati", "Kohinoor", "Mughal-e-Azam", "Gunga Jamuna" and "Ram Aur Shyam".
As an actor, he last graced the silver screen in 1998's "Qila". Now his fans get a glimpse of the ailing star via social media posts.
Here's what the celebrities tweeted on Dilip Kumar's special day.
So it was a small gathering. Saab cut the cake few minutes ago. I guess all the flash irritated him big time. May Allah bless Dilip Saab with a longgggg and healthyyyyy life. -FF pic.twitter.com/bh5lsxhk86
— Dilip Kumar (@TheDilipKumar) December 11, 2017
Message from Saira Banu: On Dilip Saab's birthday, as we get together as a family with Saab's brothers, sisters, relatives and some close friends, my thoughts reach out to all the wonderful fans and well wishers for the duas and prayers for Dilip Saab. A million thanks. 1/n
— Dilip Kumar (@TheDilipKumar) December 10, 2017
2/n What are we planning for the birthday, I am being asked repeatedly. Well, for those who don't know what we have been doing every year-it’s a day when our residence turns into a gorgeous fairyland with flowers and floral arrangements from loving visitors which means a lot.
— Dilip Kumar (@TheDilipKumar) December 10, 2017
3/n Every year on Saab’s birthday our house is open all day for friends and family to come and spend quality time with Dilip Saab. But tomm. will be bit restricted as doctors have advised Saab to be protected from any infection.
— Dilip Kumar (@TheDilipKumar) December 10, 2017
4/n If you have read Dilip Saab's autobiography you would be familiar with his quote.... that the warmth of the clasp of the hand of strangers who approach him to tell him how much they liked his work is bigger than any award for him. God bless all of you.
— Dilip Kumar (@TheDilipKumar) December 10, 2017
Namaskar.Aaj mere rakhi bhai Yusuf Khan (Dilip Kumar) sahab 95 saal ke ho rahe hain.Main unko bahut badhaai deti hun,wo hamesha swasth rahein aur unki aayu lambi ho yehi meri Ishwar se prarthana. https://t.co/cU1NGMUqe2 @TheDilipKumar .
— Lata Mangeshkar (@mangeshkarlata) December 11, 2017
Lata Mangeshkar: Aaj mere rakhi bhai Yusuf Khan (Dilip Kumar) sahab 95 saal ke ho rahe hain. Main unko bahut badhaai deti hun, wo hamesha swasth rahein aur unki aayu lambi ho yehi meri Ishwar se prarthana. (Today my Rakhi brother Yusuf Khan (Dilip Kumar) has turned 95. I pray for his good health and hope for his long age.)
Amitabh Bachchan: Two maestros! Iconic picture Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar making music! Love and admiration for their immense contribution to Indian cinema.
Happy Birthday to my loving brother and a darling actor @TheDilipKumar, who inspired me to become an actor!! pic.twitter.com/yas9D9GO7q
— Dharmendra Deol (@aapkadharam) December 11, 2017
Dharmendra: Happy Birthday to my loving brother and a darling actor Dilip Kumar, who inspired me to become an actor!
Subhash Ghai: Happy birthday and prayers for my idol, my hero, my favourite Dilip Kumar. I learnt so much from him while directing him in 'Vidhata', 'Karma' and 'Saudagar' -- all blockbusters.
The French critic Michel Mourlet described Charlton Heston as ‘an axiom.’ Mourlet wrote: He constitutes a tragedy in himself, his presence in any film being enough to instill beauty. I feel the same about @TheDilipKumar. Happy Birthday!
— Anupama Chopra (@anupamachopra) December 11, 2017
My father always referred to @TheDilipKumar ji as Yusuf Saab...Here they are together, the two great influences in my life in one frame! Wish you a very happy birthday Dilipji! I grew up watching your films & your friendship with my father & both were inspirational! Lots of love! pic.twitter.com/ELppKZkLgU
— Anil Kapoor (@AnilKapoor) December 11, 2017
Anil Kapoor: My father always referred to Dilip Kumarji as Yusuf Saab... Here they are together, the two great influences in my life in one frame! Wish you a very happy birthday Dilipji! I grew up watching your films and your friendship with my father and both were inspirational! Lots of love!
Riteish Deshmukh: It's the king's Birthday. Wishing the greatest Indian actor to grace the silver screen best of health and long life on his birthday.
. @TheDilipKumar Aadaab Yusuf saab, saalgirah mubarak.. wish you good health.. lots of love & utmost respect.
— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) December 11, 2017
Farhan Akhtar: Aadaab Yusuf saab, saalgirah mubarak... Wish you good health. Lots of love and utmost respect.
Purab Kohli: Wishing one of the legends of Indian cinema, Dilip Kumar Saab, a very Happy Birthday. You have inspired every generation with your impeccable acting. Wish you good health and a long life.
Shekhar Suman: Many happy returns of the day to Dilip Kumar sahab. May God keep him healthy and smiling. Fit and shining. He is and will be the biggest and the best actor our film industry has ever seen and probably will ever see. The best, the biggest, the brightest. There is only one Dilip Kumar on planet earth. A veritable instituition!
'YEH MERA DEEWANAPAN HAI..': DILIP KUMAR'S INCOMPARABLE ACTING, INSPIRING LIFE
ArrayDebuting on screen in British India, appearing in some of Indian cinema's greatest classics and still present -- over eight decades later -- in the hearts of a vast multitude of fans with whom he remains connected over social media, Dilip Kumar is not just Bollywood's oldest living star but also an Indian institution.
The "Tragedy King" -- who excelled at broad comedy too -- could play a prince or a peasant with equal ease, display profound intensity or a jaunty nonchalance with the same skill. Dilip Kumar, who turned 95 on Monday, is someone who repeatedly reinvented himself as both an actor and a person.
"Taqdeeren badal jaati hai, zamana badal jata hai, mulkon ki tareekh badal jaati hai, Shahenshah badal jaate hai, magar is badalti huyi duniya mein mohabbat jis insaan ka daman thaam leti hai, wohi insaan nahi badalta," he said, as Prince Salim in one of his most memorable roles. And this might describe Dilip Kumar's own long, inspiring life -- but not his acting.
He smiled when I told him millions pray for him everyday. -FF pic.twitter.com/4pjNcZFcTZ
— Dilip Kumar (@TheDilipKumar) December 10, 2017
For, over two decades after masterfully playing the rebellious son facing off a stern and dutiful father in "Mughal-e-Azam" (1960), he could take up the latter role in "Shakti" (1980) with the same intensity, though not the bombast of Prithviraj Kapoor.
That was the calibre of Mohammed Yousuf Khan, alias Dilip Kumar, a natural actor using the "method system" before it was even named, in a career lasting over half a century.
A Pathan boy who got personally picked by then reigning Bollywood diva Devika Rani to debut opposite her in "Jwar Bhata" (1944), he went on to become the "tragedy king" of Bollywood's first trinity -- where he outlived and, arguably, outperformed Raj Kapoor's naivety and Dev Anand's cheerful insouciance. All subsequent superstars -- from Amitabh Bachchan to Shah Rukh Khan -- would owe him a debt.
But there was more to his career than we know.
For one, the "shy 22-year-old son of a Pathan fruit merchant", born and raised in Peshawar, played a Muslim in only one of his 60-odd films -- in "Mughal-e-Azam", while the Abdul Rahim Khan of "Azaad" (1955), was a guise for Kumar alias Azaad -- and he was more likely to play characters named Shankar, or Ram and Shyam, Vijay or Kundan.
Above all, he "single-handedly refined histrionics" and refined acting "to an art form of exalted brilliance", says his wife Saira Banu in her introduction to his memoirs "Dilip Kumar: The Substance and the Shadow".
Many many Happy Returns of the day Yusuf Saahab !!
— Ajaz Khan (@AjazkhanActor) December 11, 2017
Happy Birthday Dilip Kumar Saab !! Live Long 'Tragedy Kinggg" #11thDec #HappyBirthdayDilipKumar @TheDilipKumar 😇😇 pic.twitter.com/lHx2MsUxSh
And this was despite having no plans of joining the profession, but was believed -- by his grandmother especially -- to be destined for fame, following a faqir's prediction. Then his father Ghulam Sarwar's decision to shift his business and family near then Bombay in the late 1930s and his own independent streak, all in their way led to Yousuf Khan becoming Dilip Kumar.
Far too many remember him for his "brooding" roles. But while he performed these with a restrained and refined subtlety, from the fatal modern triangle of "Andaz" (1949) to the pre-modern "Devdas" (1955) or even "Yahudi" (1957) set in Ancient Rome, down to "Mashaal" (1984) and "Karma" (1986), he had a much varied palette.
If he could play the lovelorn Prince Salim, he could also be the bouncy and swashbuckling Jai Tilak of "Aan" (1952) or the outgoing Yuvraj in "Kohinoor" (1960), match portrayals of the rustic Gungaram of "Ganga Jamuna" (1961) or Sagina Mahto (in both the eponymous Bengali film and its Bollywood remake, 1974) with those of city slickers like ebullient prankster Vijay Khanna of "Leader" (1964) or the rich, spoiled twin Sanjay in "Bairaag" (1976).
a glimpse of few photo frames that adorn Dilip Saab’s table-desk. Is tasveer mein Pandit #Nehru Dilip Saab ka haath thaame masroof-e-guftuge hain pic.twitter.com/td6YsYlzfj
— Dilip Kumar (@TheDilipKumar) December 11, 2017
Dilip Kumar also symbolised newly-independent India in all its diversity and promise of a bright future, showcased in films like "Naya Daur" (1957), as Lord Meghnad Desai argues in "Nehru's Hero: Dilip Kumar in the Life of India" (2004).
If he did so in films, so did he in his personal life. Saira Banu informs that her husband could give a mellifluous azaan or quote from the Quran, but also from the Bhagvad Gita and the Bible, celebrates Diwali with the same fervour as Eid; he had also, as Sheriff of Bombay in the 1980s, presided over the breaking of the arduous 30-day fast of Jain children.
And he had no airs. My father Vijay Datta, who worked for liquor company Mohan Meakins, recalls Dilip Kumar, as a director, was a frequent visitor to the plants at Ghaziabad, Solan and Lucknow, where he would cheerfully interact with all in chaste Urdu or "theth" Punjabi and was remarkably self-effacing.
It has been a "Suhana Safar" for Dilip sahab and we pray for many more happy and healthy years for him.
