My Life : Dilip Kumar

Dilip Kumar was born Mohammad Yusuf Khan—to Ayesha Begum and Lala Ghulam Sarwar Ali Khan in a Muslim Hindko-speaking Awan family. For most of his childhood, he lived in Peshawar, North West Frontier Province. His father was a landlord and a fruit merchant, and he owned orchards in Peshawar and Deolali. He moved to Bombay when his father came back after a brief stint in the upcoming city and realizing it offered a lot of opportunities.

After finishing his college education, Yusuf left his home in a huff after a disagreement with his father. He arrived at Poona (now Pune) and that was his first tryst with earning his own keep. He recalls having left his house with just forty rupees in his pocket!

His coming into what we now know as Bollywood was quite accidental. He just happened to be at the right place at the right time and Devika Rani saw what Yusuf had never seen in himself—untapped potential. Since the pay was quite good, he decided to go ahead and give this profession a shot. It was his movie Jugnu with its huge hoardings that gave him the first taste of stardom. The movie posters were hung all around the town, and clued his father in about what he had been secretly indulging in.

His affair with Madhubala was widely publicized and there have been many accounts of their breakup—with each party holding onto their side of the story. The fact remains Dilip Kumar married Saira Banu and they have been an indomitable team for years to come.

Dilip Kumar had ruled Bollywood during his days by adopting a screen name because he didn’t want to associate his family name in this business as his father wasn’t too happy about his decision to join the nautanki business.