Happy Birthday to you...

Ranjan Das Gupta

The most gifted of the grand trio of Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand, the former shared best vibes with his contemporaries. They were healthy competitors, not rivals. The three slogged it to the top on shear dint of hard work. Together they set acting trends. He was Lale to his dear ones and addressed his contemporaries as Raju and Dev.

Dilip Kumar has been the most imitated actor by the likes of Rajendra Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Amitabh Bachhan and Shah Rukh Khan. Soul stirring expressions, low pitched dialogue delivery accompanied with perfect use of the right hand are Dilip Kumar’s acting hallmarks. In fact, he shed real tear drops in Andaz, Footpath, Devdas, Ganga Jumna and Shakti.

His intensity was so acute that Dilip Kumar became the symbol and last word of pathos in Indian cinema. From the late 40s to the early 70s, he reigned supreme. Eight golden jubilees to his credit, viewers queued for advance tickets of his film from the earlier night of his major releases. Dilip Kumar rose to fame with Shaheed and gave memorable films like Andaz, Daag, Devdas, Mughal-E-Azam and Ganga Jumna.

Tragic roles took a heavy toll on his mind and health. So, on medical advice he opted for comedies like Kohinoor and Ram Aur Shyam. According to Dilip Kumar he adopted a natural design as an actor for these films, including swashbucklers like Aan, Azad and Leader.

He admitted to performing peculiar, unrealistic love scenes in many films. However, thinking directors like Mehboob Khan, Kidar Sharma, Nitin Bose, Bimal Ray and K. Asif directed Dilip Kumar in haunting romantic scenes. The throwing of stone in a pond after Nargis’ demise followed by a walk by Dilip Kumar was the climax of Jogan. Without speaking a single word he expressed his love for the Jogan excellently. For the song sequence Madhuban Mein Radhika Nache Re, he learnt playing the sitar for a year and half.

Paul Muni and Marlon Brando are idols of Dilip Kumar. Dilip Kumar considers Chabi Biswas, Pahari Sanyal and Motilal pioneers of natural acting. The Dilip Kumar of Bengali films like Paari and Sagina Mahato is certainly more subtle and impressive than the Dilip Kumar of typical Hindi films. He did not opt for Ali’s character in Lawrence of Arabia as he was too busy with Ganga Jumna. However, Dilip Kumar always admits, Omar Sharif was ideally suited to play Ali. Talat Mehmood, Mohd. Rafi and Mukesh were his ghost voices for playback.

The Dilip Kumar of Dil Diya Dard Liya, Sungursh, Dastan and Bairaag was stylized, melodramatic and lacked the finesse of Andaz or Devdas. After Bairaag flopped, Dilip Kumar took a sabbatical for six years. As a mature character artiste, he returned with Shakti in 1982 outclassing Amitabh Bachhan. Few know he contributed the entire amount he received for Dadasaheb Phalke Award for needy artistes’ welfare.

As a character actor Dilip Kumar was never utilized to the hilt like Amitabh Bachhan has been. Vidhata, Karma and Saudagar can never be termed very memorable films of the thespian. His initial pairing with Kamini Kaushal yielded good results. Dilip Kumar paired very successfully with Nargis, Nimmi, Meena Kumari, Vyjayanthimala and Waheeda Rehman. In Devdas, his pairing with Suchitra Sen was ideal. As he hit her with a stick in anger asking her to not rave about her own beauty, Dilip Kumar used three modulations. Confronting Smita Patil in Shakti, he bent slightly and used an affectionate tone in low pitch. So moved was Smita Patil that she touched the thespian’s feet in respect.

Today as he turns 94, Dilip Kumar will be remembered not only as a true gentleman but the ideal method actor as Satyajit Ray described him.

(Ranjan Das Gupta is a veteran film commentator)