Dilip Kumar turns 98: India's early method actor had set a fine example of cultured man

In the Hindi film industry, a new kind of glamorous prominence began in the Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor era, a period which many consider the golden age of the Indian cinema. Salma Malik a professor of Quad E Azam University of Islamabad, and journalist Geeta Viswanath, in a column, had mentioned, Dilip Kumar who was initially known as Muhammed Yusuf Khan adopted a Hindu name on screen, in order to be more acceptable towards the Indian audience. The Partition of India had severely affected the film industry as many great performers had to make a choice about their geographical location.

While legendary film personalities such as Noor Jehan, Ghulam Muhammed, Zia Sarhadi left for Pakistan, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, DR Chopra, Gulzar, Yash Chopra, Govind Nihalani migrated to India. Dilip Kumar even refused to play Muslim characters, excluding Mughal E Azam, since he wanted to be attached to the secular concept that was then introduced in India. 

However, in the book The Kapoor: The First Family of Indian cinema, author Madhu Jain had written that Dilip Kumar feared his father who disliked professions in the film industry. He secretly never liked the fact that Prithviraj Kapoor's son, Raj Kapoor chose to be a performer and that made Kumar feel more intimidated. Hence he chose to pursue the profession without informing his family. It was during a conversation with Prithviraj Kapoor when the latter showed a film poster to Dilip Kumar's father. 

There are many factors which play a major role in developing an actor. Kumar had a flair for playing the tragic hero. Many believed that it had made him suffer from depression during the peak of his career. To keep his mental self intact, Kumar chose to play a few comedy roles, where he excelled as an actor. It was in Devdas, where Dilip Kumar's identity as a film personality had offered a complex cultural and psychological terrain displaying the anxieties of the partition era and simultaneously the nostalgia of a pre-Partition childhood.

Dilip Kumar was a man of culture and presented a sophistication that sublimated from the screen and came home with the audience. Legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan would fondly study his work. It was during Zee Cine Awards in the year 2008 when Shah Rukh Khan (who was the host of the show) had personally laid out the red carpet for the legendary actor. 

Khan showered Kumar with a bunch of questions,  that's when Kumar held Shah Rukh's hand and said, "For any good or an enduring performance, Shah Rukh, you have to have a good story, good character equations, sound conflict, and enough opportunity for you to then wade through it. Because then you have substance to deal with, not just shadows."