Tributes pour in as India’s ‘greatest’ actor dies at 98
Dilip Kumar’s funeral was held with state honors at a graveyard in Mumbai
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the many people who paid tribute to legendary actor Dilip Kumar on Wednesday, calling his departure “a loss to our cultural world.”
Kumar died on Wednesday morning aged 98 following a prolonged illness, leaving behind an “incredible legacy” of films and fans. He is survived by his wife, veteran actor Saira Banu.
“With a heavy heart and profound grief, I announce the passing away of our beloved Dilip Saab, few minutes ago. We are from God and to Him we return,” read a brief statement on his official Twitter account confirming the news.
“Dilip Kumar ji will be remembered as a cinematic legend,” Modi said in a Twitter post immediately after Kumar’s death.
“He was blessed with unparalleled brilliance ... his passing away is a loss to our cultural world,” he added
Amitabh Bachchan, 78, one of India’s best-known movie stars, said that with Kumar’s death, “the institution has gone.”
“Whenever the history of Indian cinema will be written, it shall always be ‘before Dilip Kumar, and after Dilip Kumar,’” Bachchan, who played the role of Kumar’s son in the hit film, “Shakti,” added.
Kumar was born as Mohammad Yusuf Khan to Lala Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Ayesha Begum, in Peshawar — then part of British India, now in Pakistan — on Dec. 11, 1922.
His father was a fruit merchant and moved the family to Bombay, now known as Mumbai, in the 1930s. Later he adopted his screen name, Dilip Kumar, on the advice of actor and producer Devika Rani, who cast him in his first movie “Jwar Bhata” (sea tide) in 1944.
Thereafter he became more popularly known as the ‘Tragedy King’ of Bollywood and reveled in various roles from Devdas, Andaz and Mughal-e-Azam to Ram Aur Shyam, in a career spanning more than five decades, as he enthralled audiences with his signature style of method acting in nearly 60 films.
But it was his “personal connection” with audiences that made the iconic actor “a class apart from the rest” and “instantly relatable.”