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Bollywood superstar Dilip Kumar turns 89

Dunya News

King of Tragedy Dilip Kumar is celebrating his 89th birthday today.

Age and experience have not robbed him of the pleasure of fresh glory and even as the first superstar of Bollywood Dilip Kumar turns 89 today.The exuberant and charming Dilip Kumar has given a distinctive identity to Indian cinema with his dynamic performances. He has starred in a variety of roles, in romantic Andaz, in the comical Azaad, in the historical romance Mughal-e-Azam, the dramatic Devdaas the struggler Aan and the social Ganga Jamuna. He showcased myriad colours of his acting skills with effortless ease.Dilip Kumar was born Muhammad Yusuf Khan in Qissa Khawani Bazaar in Peshawar, Pakistan on December 11, 1922 in a Pashtun family of twelve children. His father Ghulam Sarwar was a fruit merchant and owned large orchard in Peshawar and then in Devlali in Maharashtra near Mumbai. The family relocated to Mumbai in the 1930s and early 1940s. Yusuf Khan moved to Pune and started his canteen and dry fruits business.There he was spotted by a leading actress of those years, Devika Rani, who was also the wife of the founder of Bombay Talkies Himanshu Rai and helped his entry into Bollywood. She wanted his name changed and couldn’t decide between Dilip Kumar and Vaaman Kumar. It was Jairaj, then a big star, who suggested Dilip, after his own son.Starting his career in 1944, Kumars career has spanned five decades and over 60 films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest actors in the history of Hindi Cinema. Kumar was the first actor to receive a Filmfare Best Actor Award and holds the record for the most number of Filmfare Awards won for that category along with Shahrukh Khan; 8 wins. He starred in a wide variety of roles such as the romantic Andaz (1949), the swashbuckling Aan (1952), the dramatic Devdas (1955), the comical Azaad (1955), the historical Mughal-e-Azam (1960) and the social Ganga Jamuna (1961). In 1976, Kumar had a five-year break from film performances. In 1981, he returned with a character role in the film Kranti and continued his career playing central character roles in films such as Shakti (1982), Karma (1986) and Saudagar (1991). His last film was Qila in 1998. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 1991 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994 for his contributions towards Indian cinema.
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