Remembering Dilip Kumar

It takes a fair amount of growing up to realise the greatness of a performer like Dilip Kumar. I certainly did.

The first Dilip Saab movie that I watched was Saudagar. I was barely 10. Much less rather. My father had rented a VHS, like we often used to in the 1990s as going to the theater was not quite an option. Back then I was more impressed by the stylish Raaj Kumar. For years after that, I could not stop trying to copy Raaj Kumar and his style. Starting random sentences with a "Jaani..."

As I watched works of greats like Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt and slowly began to understand storytelling and the arts of performance. With every film, my respect for Dilip Kumar only rose. Today, I know there isn't and has never been a parallel. There is a reason why the likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan refer to him as an institution.

Interestingly, despite all these years since I watched Saudagar, Imli Ka Boota is still the first song that comes to my mind when I think of him.

One of the regrets of my journalistic life was that I never got to interview him. By the time I became a journalist he had stopped giving interviews. We were reduced to following up on his health, always praying random rumours that would crop up every now and then were untrue. I prayed this morning too, wishing the tweet from his official handle was untrue. Alas!

Thank you Dilip Saab for the memories you created. You shall live forever.