Dilip Kumar: The Substance and the Shadow

by Dilip Kumar

  I have three distinct memories from my adult years that I can share without reservations. First, the memory which haunts me even to this day. It goes back to the last time papa was admitted in hospital and almost every known person in the industry had dropped in to give us emotional support. Papa was in coma and we knew the end was near. Yousuf Uncle was in Pakistan to attend a felicitation by the president when papa was shifted to Apollo hospital in Delhi where he had suffered a cardiac stroke. The day Yousuf Uncle returned to Mumbai he took a flight to Delhi and rushed to the hospital. I remember very clearly how he walked into the room where papa was lying unconscious and drew a chair close to the bed on which he sat holding papa’s hand. He began telling papa, ‘Raj, aaj bhi main der se aaya. Maaf kar de mujhe [I am sorry I came late even today; forgive me] I know you like to be in the limelight and have all the attention on you. Enough is enough. Get up and sit and listen to me. I have just come back from Peshawar and I have brought back the aroma of chapli kebabs to tempt you. You and I will go together and we will walk through the bazaar like we used to and enjoy the kebabs and rotis. Raj, wake up and stop acting. I know you are a great actor. Raj, mainu le jana hai tusi Peshawar de ghar de aangan wich.’ [You have to take me with you to the courtyard of the house in Peshawar.] His voice was now choking and tears were brimming over from his eyes as he spoke.

  Randhir [Rishi Kapoor’s elder brother] and I stood still and mute. I can never erase the memory of Yousuf Uncle’s plaintive appeal and the way he left the room reluctantly, turning back at the door to take one last look at his dearest friend lying unconscious on the bed.

  The other memory is from a day in our studio [RK or Raj Kapoor Studio] when we were filming Prem Rog [released in 1982]. I had to bring the intense expression of a despondent lover, and as hard as I was trying, Raj Kapoor, the director, was not getting the look he wanted, which was irritating him. Then he shouted at me in the presence of the entire unit, ‘Mujhe Yousuf chahiye. I want you to give me the look Yousuf would have given in the situation. I want the look in his eyes when he expresses love, his intensity, his realism.’

  The unit was silent. Nobody could believe that he was talking about his professional rival Dilip Kumar. I think it was the ultimate acknowledgement of the actor–director Raj Kapoor for Yousuf Uncle’s unmatched ability to portray love with all its agony and ecstasy. It was possible only because they had that kind of genuine respect and love for each other. Would you hear Shahrukh [Khan] say that about Salman [Khan] or vice versa today?

  Another incident that showed how much they were in each others’ heart was when Yousuf Uncle was facing the brunt of Balasaheb Thackeray’s [the Shiv Sena chief] politically motivated objection to his receiving the Nishan-e-Imtiaz from the Pakistan Government [in 1998]. There were ugly demonstrations outside his bungalow and, true to the callous nature of our industry, nobody came forward from the fraternity to put the Shiv Sena in its place. At that juncture Yousuf Uncle gave an interview in which he said, ‘I miss my friend Raj today more than on any occasion. He would not have let this agitation against me or any other artiste go unanswered. He would not have let this happen to me.’ [Raj Kapoor passed away on 2 June 1988.]

  Papa was no more then but it made us feel so proud that someone as intellectually superior as Yousuf Uncle was remembering our father and giving him the credit for being a fearless man who stood up for his fraternity and all artistes in all testing times.

  We have kept in touch with Yousuf Uncle and Saira Aunty through phone calls and meeting on festive occasions. Randhir and I had gone, I recall, to invite them for my younger brother Chimpu’s [Rajiv Kapoor] marriage. Yousuf uncle was so happy to see us and we sat down for a long chat over cups of hot tea and delicious snacks served by Saira Aunty. It is always such an education to listen to Yousuf Uncle’s talk. After the lovely meeting we went to Dev Anand’s penthouse at Anand Studio. It was an altogether different experience. He was as usual on his feet, striding across the room and talking excitedly ‘… Hey man, Chintu, tell me what’s happening and you Daboo [Randhir Kapoor’s nick name], what’s new with you …’ He was all excitement and was so delighted to see us. It made me think how different they were – the three real legends of Indian cinema and the three real big superstars.

  I have been fortunate to have worked with Yousuf Uncle in Duniya [1984] also starring Ashok Kumar and Pran. A funny thing happened one day while we were all geared up for a dramatic scene between Yousuf Uncle and myself. He was playing my father and in one particular scene had to show his anger and ask me to leave the house. Everything was set and Yousuf Uncle had worked himself up and was ready with his lines. There was pin-drop silence as Yousuf Uncle wanted to go straight for a take. The clapper board was sounded and the director, Ramesh Talwar, called for ‘action’. Just when Yousuf Uncle was about to deliver his lines, Ashok Kumar shouted out to him, ‘Yousuf, maine suna tu ne doosri shadi karli. Arre bhai, aadmi ek biwi ko mushkil se sambhalta hai aur tum to do do biwiyon ko sambhalne nikley. Arre Wah!’ [I believe you have remarried. A man can hardly handle one wife and you will handle two of them!] The entire unit was tense as Yousuf Uncle turned his gaze in the direction where Ashok Kumar was seated looking absolutely relaxed. Yousuf Uncle smiled and politely shouted back, ‘Ashok Bhaiyya, can we discuss the critical issue you are referring to after I finish the scene? I agree it is a debatable issue but I am sure it can wait!’

  There was a wave of laughter and we could hear both Pran and Ashok Kumar having a hearty laugh. That is Yousuf Uncle – a man with a great sense of humour and a man who has great respect for fellow artistes. The camaraderie among Ashok Kumar, Yousuf Uncle and Pran was something to watch all through the making of Duniya. It was a wonderful education for me.

  I must admit with all sincerity that all of us sons and daughters of Raj Kapoor address him as Yousuf Uncle but he is no less than a father figure to all of us, now and forever.

  *You have come late.

  AAMIR KHAN

  I BEGAN OBSERVING YOUSUF SAHAB’S WORK on screen as a little boy. I would keep listening to praises about his consummate artistry in conversations that went on in the house between my father, Tahir Hussain, and my uncle, Nasir Hussain Sahab, besides the numerous visitors from the industry who called on them. I was not old enough to notice the finer points of his acting but I definitely saw that he was not like the other actors who ‘acted’ and strained themselves to become the characters they portrayed. Dilip Kumar was always the character he portrayed for the millions who viewed his films with eager involvement and the great wonder for me was that he did not seem to be acting at all. That was when I was about ten.

  When I grew older and my sensibilities and understanding of the medium developed, I began to watch his work with the keenness of one who was going to make a career as an actor. It was then that I realized what a tremendous contribution he has made to histrionics in Indian cinema. I will explain what I mean.

  By the time I entered the profession Indian cinema was seventy-five years old. I have been around for twenty-five years now. So when Yousuf Sahab entered the profession Indian cinema was perhaps twenty-five years old; the medium was still evolving and actors were still following the theatrical and loud styles of expressing the characters’ feelings.

  Yousuf Sahab came from a family that had no connection with either the visual or performing arts and the only references he had were the actors that preceded him. I think he had Ashok Kumar, Motilal and may be K. L. Saigal to observe. Even the technical supports of the motion picture medium like advanced cameras, sound, lights, music and so on were being experimented with and were just as good as they could be in the circumstances. It was in this scenario that he emerged as an admirable actor who brought to the screen a polish and refinement in histrionics that audiences found refreshingly different and pleasantly close to reality. And he did not model himself on any actor from Western cinema, or for that matter, Indian cinema. He was original and his style was novel and unadulterated.


  Raj Kapoor was following Charlie Chaplin. Dev Anand was following Gregory Peck but Yousuf Sahab was following his own instincts and, for all of us who have followed his body of work, the amazing thing was the deep belief that went into the portrayal of the characters he played. I understood later, as I faced the cameras for my early films, it was not as simple or as effortless as it seemed. I realized that it takes a lot of self-convincing and emotional courage for an actor to believe that he is not himself but another individual going through the throes of fictitious experiences that are entirely different from whatever he has experienced in his own life.

  I found myself watching his films with exhilaration, making mental notes of the authenticity he gave to his rendering of such varied and difficult characters as Devdas, Gunga (in Gunga Jumna), Prince Salim (in Mughal-e-Azam), just to give a few examples, and I could see how strong was his belief that he became the character he was bringing to life on the screen. I can attribute it to: a) his immense and untiring hard work and preparation for the performance; b) his unmatched mental and emotional strength; and c) the God-given gift of talent and competence.

  How difficult it must have been for him to play the historical character of Prince Salim and that too with the formidable presence of Prithviraj Kapoor throughout as Emperor Akbar! Any other actor in the role would have resorted to high pitch dramatic acting to match Prithvirajji’s resonant dialogue delivery and his style of acting. But Yousuf Sahab chose to strike a contrasting note, emoting more with his eyes and his impeccable dialogue delivery in his soft, refined voice. If you carefully observe his smile and his walk and the look he gives in the dramatic moments, it all seems so natural that you begin to believe that he is truly the romantic prince who was not ready to sacrifice his love for the throne of Hindustan.

  How difficult it must have been also for him to play Gunga and speak the dialect he spoke. I believe both Mughal-e-Azam and Gunga Jumna were being filmed simultaneously and it would have been so tough on him. I can cite my own plight as I was recently shooting for two diverse films simultaneously – Dhoom 3 and PeeKay. I speak a Bhojpuri dialect in PeeKay and on a couple of occasions while rehearsing my lines for Dhoom 3, I was unwittingly lapsing into Bhojpuri much to the amusement and surprise of Sanjay Gadhvi, the director of Dhoom 3. So I really wonder how Yousuf Sahab, who is known for his complete dedication to his work and concentrates on one film at a time, managed the two diverse commitments – a rustic fugitive from the law in one and a Mughal prince in the other!

  I have a distinct memory of the scene in Gunga Jumna where he runs and runs, fleeing from the village and he is cornered by the villagers who have come to get him. He feels despondent and helpless till he seizes a gun and he pulls the trigger accidentally and sees the impact it has on the villagers who now start to flee from him and he is surprised and elated at once. Then Vyjayantimala comes running from the opposite side and he breaks down in her arms and tells her how the villagers had chased him like a dog. I don’t foresee any actor anywhere in the world creating the tremendous impact he created in that scene with his subdued acting for a long time to come.

  He was way ahead of his times as an actor and I still feel all of us actors who are striving to attain world standards are way behind him. He showed tremendous courage in picking scripts and roles that were in complete contrast. He switched from tragedy to comedy as a leading man and set the trend for lead actors to integrate comedy into their roles as he did in Ram Aur Shyam. Every choice of film he made was done carefully and on his own terms. He took conscious risks with his screen image breaking all the unwritten rules for lead role actors at that time. It takes guts and a sense of great self belief to do so. He dived each time into an unknown ocean and emerged with a pearl.

  I think he could do all that he did because money was not his sole criterion. Also, he did not succumb to the pressure most actors face when huge stardom comes to them. The pressure is to take on all the offers that come at that juncture for fear of losing out on the opportunity to stay ahead in the race and the insecurity of being left in the cold if the success does not sustain [itself] for long. He has never been insecure as an actor and it has not mattered to him how big a star he is and for how long. What mattered to him, I can see, is the work at hand and how much he can give to it with utter sincerity and passion. In later years when he began to play older characters, too, he made his choices carefully. We may disagree with some of the choices but the point to be admired is that he did those films because he wanted to do them and not for the money or any other bait. And in all of them he was brilliant. Be it Mashaal, Saudagar, Shakti or any film of that phase, he was the pivot and the hero of the subject. People lined up to see him on the screen though there were [other] popular actors in the cast. So I would not categorize that phase as secondary to his earlier phase or call it character acting.

  I have certainly learnt from my observation of his work and the way he conducted himself off screen, doing everything with a quiet dignity and self-assurance. He has remained the biggest superstar of India and I doubt if any of us today can equal him with all the good work we may do in the future.

  AYUB KHAN *

  HERE ARE MY MEMORIES OF MOMENTS SPENT WITH YOUSUF UNCLE … Before that, I would have to give you a bit of an insight into my growing up years so as to give you an idea of my relationship with my uncle, my father’s elder brother and the greatest actor the Hindi film industry has ever known till now, the thespian, the enigmatic Dilip Kumar, and to me, Yousuf Uncle.

  The one instance that stands out the most and has had a huge impact on me was that of the passing away of my father [Nasir Khan] when I was barely five years old.

  The memory of Yousuf Uncle comforting me as a child is so vivid. I remember that one day while trying to somehow comfort me about the absence of my father, Yousuf Uncle playfully made me look up towards the bright blue sky, which was filled with beautiful white puffy clouds and directed me to look at the largest, whitest cloud in the sky. He told me that my Abba was right behind that beautiful white cloud, and that he had put up all the clouds in the sky for me. He comforted me by telling me my Abba was busy decorating the sky each day for me.

  It left me so tongue-tied. I couldn’t get to tell my dear uncle, who was going to such great lengths to comfort me with this beautiful tale, that I was painfully aware of the reality. What was incredibly comforting was that the heart of the one person whom the nation completely idolized had the highest regard for my beloved father. It’s such an incredible knowledge to be aware of and to know that, people of this nation were also aware of the love and great bond between Abba and Yousuf Uncle. Whenever they spoke of one, the other was never forgotten. Throughout time, wherever I went, people spoke of the great bond between the two.

  There were no barriers in the company of Yousuf Uncle. He always made his surrounding very relaxed and kept a child-like approach when around us children but because of experiencing an emotionally charged childhood, I was always weary of displaying my inner emotions. Everywhere we went, awestruck people, within the film industry and outside, sat in front of even a child like me, waiting to hear utterance of insights of shared moments spent with my very enigmatic uncle.

  The stamp of his relationship to the family was blindingly strong, and played a huge factor as far as having a status within the film industry or outside it. People almost treated us like royalty because of all the hard work of Yousuf Uncle that had brought about his greatness.

  Yousuf Uncle and Saira Aunty made sure that, whenever they met us, they helped us form an easy, natural relationship based on our interaction with them and not by any preconceived notions built in our minds because of his popularity or his position. And even though the interactions were mostly fleeting (and at times at very significant moments) they left vivid memories.

  Flashes of images that run through my mind, when I try and recall the earliest memories, are just like in movie scenes (at the cost of sounding melodramatic). The first images that comes to mind,
is that of me as a very young child, walking up to Saira Aunty’s bungalow terrace with my father and seeing Yousuf Uncle flying a large kite. Kite flying was a big thing and my father and uncle indulged in it. The quintessential heartthrob of the nation was right in front of me flying this large kite. The feeling that remained with me was that of wanting to watch my great uncle display superhuman abilities even while indulging in this act of recreation. And he did not disappoint! His kite was streaking across the skies winning numerous battles with other kite fliers, and every time he won, I would hear his unmistakable laugh, which filled the terrace, leaving me all the more spellbound.

  I remember all of us cousins as children, while being treated at one of the open-air restaurants in Bandra’s Bandstand, standing around while Yousuf Uncle and Aslam Uncle having a whistling competition (using the fingers while trying to whistle). I clearly remember Yousuf Uncle outwhistling the competition.

  I remember vividly when he took all of us cousins to see a magic show. P. C. Sorcar was performing in an auditorium on Marine Drive. We children were given front-row seats and were privileged to come up on stage to participate in some of the acts of the coveted magician: one of the innumerable perks of being related to the thespian. The feeling of being his nephew amongst all those present that day filled my heart with pride as Yousuf Uncle looked over the flock of us children there.

  I must mention that Abba was considered very, very dear by Yousuf Uncle and Saira Aunty. In the pile of movies put forth in front of me, my eye caught Gunga Jumna. This is an epic film that was partnered by my father and Yousuf Uncle and was an attempt by the latter to cement my father’s career. I suggested I’d like to watch the film. Boy! What a moment, I thought, watching my father and my uncle in a movie together, while I sat beside my great uncle. However, the vision of Abba and his beloved brother Yousuf together was too much for my young heart. I burst into tears.