Dilip Kumar (b. 1922)
Hindi-Urdu cinema’s top 50s and 60s star. Born in Peshawar (now Pakistan) as Yusuf Khan in a Pathan family of 12 children. They moved to Maharashtra as fruit merchants. Worked in a British army canteen in Bombay (1940). Devika Rani claimed to have recruited him for Bombay Talkies. A noted Hindi novelist, Bhagwati Charan Varma, renamed him Dilip Kumar. Attained stardom with Jugnu. Achieved an enduring reputation for naturalist acting although he claims to have followed in the footsteps of Motilal. Andaz brought him superstardom and he acted again with Nargis in Jogan. Presented, e.g. in Footpath, as an exponent of indigenous neo-realism. His style developed tragic dimensions, e.g. in the Oedipal drama Deedar, where he blinds himself, and in Devdas, as the lovesick aristocrat. Eventually decided to change to a more swashbuckling image with Aan, Azad, Insaniyat, Kohinoor, etc., apparently on advice of his psychoanalyst, although he kept his romantic image going as well. Like his contemporary Raj Kapoor, his filmic identity offered a complex cultural/psychological terrain displaying the anxieties of Independence and the nostalgias of a pre- Partition childhood. Unlike Kapoor, Dilip Kumar’s naturalist underplaying often presented him as an innocent loner caught in and destroyed by conflicting social pressures, as in the only film he did with Raj Kapoor, Andaz, a classic drama of male guilt paid for by the woman. His acting was used mainly to address issues of identity in the Hindi films of Bengali directors: Nitin Bose’s Deedar and Ganga Jumna, Bimal Roy’s Madhumati and Tapan Sinha’s Sagina Mahato, after which he stopped acting for 8 years. Married actress Saira Banu of Junglee (1961) fame. Made a comeback with Kranti and esp. with Shakti, starring opposite Bachchan in a larger-thanlife role confirming his legendary star status. Recent films with Subhash Ghai (Karma, Saudagar). Although he virtually directed some of his films (e.g. Ganga Jumna, Dil Diya Dard Liya) his first official directorial credit is for Kalinga (in prod.).
FILMOGRAPHY: 1944: Jwar Bhata; 1945: Pratima; 1946: Milan; 1947: Jugnu; 1948: Anokha Pyar; Ghar Ki Izzat; Nadiya Ke Paar; Mela; Shaheed; 1949: Andaz; Shabnam; 1950: Arzoo; Babul; Jogan; 1951: Hulchul; Tarana; Deedar; 1952: Aan; Daag; Sangdil; 1953: Footpath; Shikast; 1954: Amar; 1955: Azad; Devdas; Insaniyat; Udan Khatola; 1957: Musafir; Naya Daur; 1958: Madhumati; Yahudi; 1959: Paigham; 1960: Kohinoor; Mughal-e-Azam; 1961: Ganga Jumna; 1964: Leader; 1966: Dil Diya Dard Liya; Pari; 1967: Ram Aur Shyam; 1968: Sadhu Aur Shaitan; Admi; Sangharsh; 1970: Gopi; Sagina Mahato; 1972: Anokha Milan; Dastaan; 1974: Sagina; Phir Kab Milogi; 1976: Bairaag; 1981: Kranti; 1982: Shakti; Vidhata; 1983: Mazdoor; 1984: Duniya; Mashaal; 1986: Dharam Adhikari; Karma; 1989: Kanoon Apna Apna; 1990: Izzatdar; 1991: Saudagar.