NEW DELHI (AFP) – Dilip Kumar, one of Bollywood’s most accomplished and respected film stars, died on Wednesday (July 7) aged 98, prompting tributes from across Indian cinema and politics.
With Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor, Kumar was one of the three big names who dominated the golden age of Indian cinema from the 1940s to the 1960s, enjoying a career spanning more than 50 years and nearly 60 films.
Nicknamed “The Tragedy King” because of his brooding good looks, tousled hair and deep voice, he played the lead in some of the Indian film industry’s most commercially successful films of the period.
But he missed out on international fame after famously turning down the chance to play Sherif Ali in English director David Lean’s 1962 classic, Lawrence Of Arabia. The part went to then little known Egyptian actor Omar Sharif.
Kumar was born Mohammed Yusuf Khan on Dec 11, 1922, in Peshawar, Pakistan, then part of British-ruled India. His father was a fruit merchant who took his family to India’s entertainment capital in the 1930s.
But the son turned his back on the chance to take over the business when actress Devika Rani spotted him on his father’s fruit stall in the then Bombay, leading to a part in his first film, Jwar Bhata, in 1944.
Rani persuaded him to change his name, so he chose Dilip Kumar, allowing him to hide what he was doing from his disapproving father.
Although Jwar Bhata flopped and leading film magazines criticised his performance, Kumar was undeterred and eventually broke through with the 1946 film Milan.
One of his most remembered roles was in the lavish historical romance Mughal-E-Azam, based on the life of one of India’s great Mughal princes.
The movie, released in 1960, was eight years in the making and cost a mind-boggling 15 million rupees, but soon became one of Bollywood’s biggest-grossing films of all time.
Kumar, who cited Hollywood greats Marlon Brando, Gary Cooper and Spencer Tracy as influences, later won acclaim in 1964 for the nationalistic Leader, screened against a backdrop of recent wars against China and Pakistan.
He saw fewer roles in the 1970s as younger actors like Amitabh Bachchan took centre stage.
He even took a five-year break after a string of flops, returning in 1981 with the hit Kranti (Revolution) and a part alongside Bachchan in Shakti (Strength) the following year, plus a string of character roles.
Actor and lawmaker
After a series of badly-received films, Kumar took up a more active role in politics in 1998 and worked to end the feuding between India and Pakistan.
The same year saw him receive the highest civilian honour in Pakistan, angering Hindu nationalists. Two years later he became a lawmaker for the then opposition Congress party.
The ancestral homes of Kumar and other actors in Peshawar suffered decades of neglect but efforts are being made to restore them as the city emerges from years of Islamist militancy.
Unlike many actors who appeared in hundreds of films, the versatile Kumar carefully selected roles which by Indian standards only increased his stature in the fiercely competitive industry.
In 2006 he accepted a lifetime achievement award at India’s National Film Awards in recognition of his contribution to Indian cinema.
Yet he still admitted that he was baffled at his success.
“Honestly, I’ve still to figure out how an intensely shy young man called Yusuf Khan became the actor Dilip Kumar,” he told The Hindustan Times in an interview to mark his 85th birthday.
Kumar, who had struggled with ill health in recent years, married actress Saira Banu in 1966 when she was 22 years his junior.
His death was announced on Twitter “with a heavy heart and profound grief” by family friend Faisal Farooqui.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Kumar “a cinematic legend”.
“He was blessed with unparalleled brilliance… His passing away is a loss to our cultural world,” Mr Modi tweeted.
Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar said: “To the world many others may be heroes. To us actors, he was The Hero.”
Indian actor Ajay Devgan tweeted that Kumar was an “institution, a timeless actor. Heartbroken.” Director Hansal Mehta called him “the greatest”.
