#GoldenFrames: Pictorial Biography of Dilip Kumar, Bollywood’s first Khan!

“Once you have acceptance of the audience, you should have lesser exposure," Dilip Kumar said in a rare interview while speaking about how artists should react to success. The actor, who lives a tranquil life with wife Saira Banu in Mumbai, has experienced several ups and downs in his career and personal life. Let’s take a closer look at the life of this living legend who celebrates his 98th birthday on December 11.

Born to parents Ayesha Begum and Lala Ghulam Sarwar Khan, the young and ambitious Mohammad Yusuf Khan left his home when he was only a teenager. Yusuf was looking for ways to help his father with finances.

To make ends meet, a young Yusuf sold sandwiches at the army club in Pune and saved Rs 5000. In 1943, Yusuf visited Bombay Talkies in search of a job and met the owner, actress Devika Rani.

Yusuf was hired for his knowledge of good English and Urdu. While helping with stories and scripts at Bombay Talkies, he met producer Sashadhar Mukherjee and actor Ashok Kumar, who influenced his acting style.

Mohammad Yusuf Khan was advised to change his name to Dilip Kumar by Devika Rani, who offered him his debut lead role in ‘Jwar Bhata’ in 1944.

After a few unsuccessful films initially, Dilip Kumar acted in a string of hit films such as 'Jugnu', 'Noor Jehan', 'Shaheed', 'Mela' and 'Andaz' wherein he was seen alongside Raj Kapoor and Nargis.

For his role in the romantic drama ‘Daag’, Dilip Kumar became the first actor to win the Best Actor award at Clare Awards, which was later renamed to Filmfare Awards. Dilip Kumar has won nine Filmfare Awards and two National Film Awards in his entire career.

Dilip Kumar was the most bankable and the highest-paid actor in the1950s. However, his box-office success was not as talked about as his style of acting. Dilip Kumar is known to have introduced method acting in Indian cinema. His grief-stricken characters in hit films such as 'Devdas', 'Madhumati' and 'Mughal-e-Azam' earned him the nickname 'The Tragedy King'.

Dilip Kumar would understand the emotional state of his characters and would try to portray it on the screen perfectly. He would get emotionally attached to his characters, which would sometimes take a toll on his health.

Dilip Kumar's performance in 'Ganga Jamuna' left actor Amitabh Bachchan in awe. "It was very difficult for me to imagine how someone that did not come from Uttar Pradesh was able to pronounce, enact all the nuances of the Awadhi language. His presence, his aura and his dedication to film shall be documented as ‘before Dilip Kumar and after Dilip Kumar,’" Bachchan wrote in one of his blog posts.