A career that spanned 55 years, 57 movies: A tribute to Dilip Kumar on his 100th birth anniversary

Mumbai, December 11

Yusuf Khan, alias Dilip Kumar — the intense, multi-faceted actor who rose to be a superstar and inspired generations of future actors and filmmakers with the art and science of his acting talents, remains glowing brightly in the starry film galaxy.

On his 100th birth anniversary on Sunday (he was born on December 11, 1922), here’s a quick view of a few of his top, timeless, superhit films which still enthral movie buffs, now mostly on the small screen.

In his acting career spanning 55 years, Dilip Kumar performed in an estimated 57 films with an awesome success rate of around 65 per cent.

The eternal mega-blockbuster was, of course, ‘Mughal-E-Azam’ (1960), directed by the legendary K Asif, which shattered records and created new ones, many which still stand unbroken today.

In the film, Dilip Kumar essayed the role of a bohemian Prince Salim, who later became fourth Mughal Emperor Jahangir, the son of the no-nonsense Emperor Akbar (Prithviraj Kapoor) and the doting mom, but a ‘pati-vrata’ Queen Jodha (Durga Khote).

‘Mughal-E-Azam’ became the first Indian film to be digitally coloured and re-released in 2004, and again proved a superhit, something unprecedented in Indian film history.

In fact, the last surviving link – of all the people who contributed to the making of the successful epic “Mughal-E-Azam” — Lata

Then came ‘Ganga Jamna’ (1961), the story of two brothers, one a dacoit (Dilip Kumar as ‘Ganga’) and the other a cop (‘Jamna’, his real-life brother Nasir Khan), along with the Vyjayanthimala, and superhit music by Naushad.

Another Dilip Kumar-starrer in Mehboob Khan’s love-triangle, ‘Andaz’ (1949) with Nargis and the legendary Raj Kapoor, remains fresh in public memory.

The engaging story revolved around the ordinary man Dilip Kumar’s childhood sweetheart who grows into a wealthy and comely Nargis but due to circumstances he cannot declare his love for her.

BR Chopra’s ‘Naya Daur’ (1957) remains etched in public memory for a variety of reasons, the first ever film to speak of conflict between humans and technology, with Dilip Kumar, his buddy Hamid Ali Khan, or Ajit, and their common love-interest Vyjayanthimala.

Mehboob Khan made the first Indian adventure film, ‘Aan’ (1952) which was also the country’s maiden technicolour feature film, starring Dilip Kumar, Nimmi Bano and Nadira, that was to be a trendsetter in many aspects in future.

Other major films of that time featuring Dilip Kumar include: ‘Jugnu’ (1947), which first drew the world’s attention to his acting and personae, with the singer-actress Noorjehan, who remained his lifelong friend; ‘Mela’ (1948) with Nargis and Noorjehan, ending with the tragic love-story ending in the death of both the protagonists.

In Ramesh Saigal’s ‘Shaheed’ (1948), Dilip Kumar was paired as a freedom-fighter with Kamini Kaushal, with several blockbuster songs composed by another musical master of the era, Ghulam Haider. IANS