Millions of fans of the great actor, who is credited for bringing method acting to Indian cinema, flood Twitter with celebrating his birthday.
Our Bureau
New Delhi
Veteran Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar turned 98 on Friday (December 11) and received a plethora of warm wishes from the film industry on the occasion.
The legendary actor with nine Filmfare awards under his belt has always entertained the audiences with his enthralling acting performances that are still looked up to by the whole film industry. To celebrate the 98th birthday of the ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ actor, Bollywood took to social media and poured in birthday wishes for the legendary actor. Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn took to his Twitter and shared an old picture of him in which he is seen standing beside ‘Tragedy King’ of Hindi cinema. He captioned the post as “Happy birthday Yusuf Saab. You’re an institution by yourself and, you’ve always been my steady source of inspiration over the years. Respects to you Sir today and always.”
Urmilla Matondkar too dedicated a heartfelt tweet along with a monochrome picture of the ace actor and captioned it as “When all the words in the world fail to describe a human being, an Actor, an Era, a Legend, an Institution and all the joy, light n sheer magic he brought on celluloid each time he enlightened it. Happy Birthday #DilipKumar saab #HappyBirthdayDilipKumar Red heart.”
The ‘Dhak Dhak Girl’ of Bollywood, Madhuri Dixit Nene, who has had the opportunity to work with the legend, took to Twitter and shared a still from their movie ‘Izzatdaar’ while wishing him good health. “Happy birthday @TheDilipKumar saab, I wish you good health and a long life ahead. I feel fortunate remembering the times we spent together while shooting for #Izzatdar & #KanoonApnaApna. Sending you my best wishes. Take care,” she tweeted.
Dilip Kumar was born as Muhammad Yusuf Khan on December 11, 1922, and made his acting debut with the 1944 film ‘Jwar Bhata’. He is best-known for iconic roles in films like ‘Devdas ‘(1955), ‘Naya Daur’ (1957), ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ (1960), ‘Ganga Jamuna’ (1961), ‘Kranti’ (1981), and ‘Karma’ (1986). He was last seen on the big screen in ‘Qila’ in 1998 and was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015. (ANI)
While the superstar has worked in over 65 movies in his five decades-long glorious career, here is a look back on the few films that gave him the tag of ‘The Tragedy King’:
1. ‘Devdas’
‘Devdas,’ – the painful saga of love and romance, which was based on Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel of the same name was till date regarded as one of the finest works of the superstar. The Bimal Roy directorial saw Kumar acing the role of a die-hard lover on the road of destruction at hands of love and alcoholism.
2. ‘Babul’
The musical drama that emerged out as the second highest-grossing film of the year 1950 saw a tragic love-triangle between his character the late dazzling diva Nargis and late actor Munawar Sultana.
3. ‘Daag’
The social drama ‘Daag,’ produced and directed by Amiya Chakravarty brought Dilip Kumar the first ever Filmfare Award in the main category of best actor. The film sees the rise of a poverty-stricken and alcoholic Shankar (Dilip Kumar’s character) to a wealthy man who again moves towards the path of self-destruction as the family of the love of his life decided to marry her elsewhere.
4. ‘Mughal-e-Azam’
The ultimate love story of Mughal prince Salim and a court dancer Anarkali was one of the most tragic films by the legendary superstar. His epic portrayal of the spoiled, self-indulgent and mad-in-love prince won the film several accolades including the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi in 1961.
5. ‘Deedar’
One of the noted tragedies made in early Indian cinema ‘Deedar’ revolves around the unfulfilled love of Dilip Kumar’s character who was separated from him due to class inequalities. The film emerged out as one of the most popular films of the golden era and established Kumar as the ‘King of tragedies.’ The film starred Nargis and Nimmi alongside Kumar.
Some other tragedy movies by the superstar including ‘Sairat,’ ‘Tarana,’ ‘Yahudi,’ and ‘Kumati.’ He was last seen on the big screen in ‘Qila’ in 1998 and was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015.
