Dilip Kumar No More - My Memories Of The Man Who Made Saudagar, Karma, Kranti And Other Modern Day Epics

Dilip Kumar Death: Veteran actor Dilip Kumar, who was hospitalised on June 30 after reportedly complaining of breathlessness, breathed his last on Wednesday morning at 7:30 AM.

Dilip Kumar - My Memories Of The Man Who Made Saudagar, Karma, Kranti And Other Modern Day Epics

By Joginder Tuteja

My fondest memory of Late Dilip Kumar saab is watching him in action during Saudagar (1991) exactly three decades ago. As a 14 year old who had started getting some kind of a hang on medium of cinema, it was wonderful to see the way he commanded such a terrific screen presence. No offence meant to newcomers Manisha Koirala and Vivek Mushran but I used to wait for scenes that featured Dilip Kumar, and especially the ones where he got face to face with Raj Kumar. For me, Saudagar stood for this terrific duo as well Amrish Puri, Anupam Kher and Gulshan Grover, all being heavyweights.

My only regret? I never got a chance to experience this modern day epic tale in theatres. Theater tickets were just not available in the sleepy town of Kharagpur where I used to stay during those days, and the saviour was in the form of (double) video cassette pack that was available at rent, albeit on a premium. Not just that, I bought the double cassette audio pack that sold like hot cakes in the market, even as me and my brother used to take turns and recite dialogues mouthed by Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar.

We came back to Delhi soon enough but it was a long wait to see Dilip Kumar in action all over again. He used to work on his own will with a gap of five years (or sometimes more) between his films. There was a movie that released eventually, Qila (1998). Excited, all four of us (including our parents) marched to Odeon cinema in Connaught Place and got seated. To put it mildly, the film was horrendous. Dilip Kumar was in a double role here - as an honest judge and a villainous patriarch. Rekha featured in this Umesh Mehra directed film that was all over the place, and deservingly flopped.

With that, my dream of watching Dilip Kumar saab on the big screen for a new film came to an end as well.  After 1998, he never did a film again. I still wanted to catch him action and got lucky when his earlier movies like Kanoon Apna Apna and Izzatdaar re-released at Payal cinema, Gurgaon. Yes, Sanjay Dutt and Govinda were heroes but with Dilip Kumar stepping in, there was a lot of gravitas out there.

Ironically though, I missed catching another great performance of his in cinemas. That too was a Subhash Ghai directed modern day epic tale, Karma. I cheered along when I saw it on a video cassette, my cousins ensured that we had a repeat run of the film before the friendly neighbourhood video parlour bhaiyaa took it back, and the sound of ‘Dil diya hai jaan bhi denge’ continued to reverberate for days in succession. However, I can well imagine how it must have been a goosebump experience for those who watched the thespian where he belonged, the big screen.

Duniya, Mashaal, Mazdoor, Vidhata, Shakti - I have watched all these films as well, either on Doordarshan where they got telecast first or later on the OTT. These were all hardcore masala films which satiated the movie buff in me. However the biggest of them all is that all time blockbuster by Manoj Kumar, Kranti, which was Dilip Kumar’s comeback movie five years after delivering another big hit, Bairaag.

The man always knew how to keep the audience waiting and make them hungry for more. Unfortunately, he went silent after 1998 itself, and now it’s going to be his work from the past which would live on for decades to come.

RIP, Dilip Kumar saab.