Monday, February 2, 2009

Dilip Kumar - the great man of Hindi Cinema

Respected Brother,
Sadar Pranam,
I realised I had missed reading lots of your post as I was away in Gaziabad. That I had missed one of the most prominent one on Dilip saab is my fault. I was a bit busy managing to uplad the pics and videos from the marriage I attended.
That you indeed are a human being and like we adore you today you too had an idol to fall upon. How the cycle of time takes its own path, how very natural was your description of the life of Dilip saab and your own admiration of one of the best - yes one of the trio that we know Dilip saab was the central part of - the trio that defined the early history of Hindi Cinema in most majestic manner - the trio of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Saab and Dev saab. True one can not forget their contribution to world of Hindi Cinema. What if Ganaga Jamuna did not get an award for Dilip saab it was as great a performance as one you proffered in Deewar. That you were not given the best actor that year could itself be seen as a repeat of history of what Dilip saab had to go through after most unique performance in Ganga Jamuna. It is Ok, awards are not always the end of the road and sometimes I beleive that the awards unnecessarily prejudice our minds to a particular movie. Slumdog Millionaire is one stark example in modern or rather current times.

I would not have known that during Hope 86 that even if I could not meet you tyhe otherday I had met the thespian of Hindi Cinema after I had jumped into the brabourne stadium. That I requested Dilip saab if I could meet Amitabh Bachchan he had assured me - yes, why not go and meet him. Only the police bandobast thwarted all my hopes. No regrets - the bigger regret was the disappaearance of Smita Patil that night as I had later learned during the following day! Smita Patil was as great an actor as Meena Kumari ji! Some day shall recollect and do some justice to the two most talented actresses of Hindi Cinema in Meena Kumari and Smita Patil.
Coming back to Dilip saab, I think when I was quite youmg must be around four or five years of age and staying at Bijnor my birthplace, I remember the covered box cycle rickshaws used to be used for advertising of the new movies in town - I distinctly remember that Ram aur Shyam, Aadmi and also probably Gopi and Leader were some of the movies that I remember were made during those times. If I have to pick some five great movies of Dilip saab - I would choose Shakti, Raam aur Shyam, Ganga Jamuna, Mughale Azam and Naya Daur. Some other great movies would necessarily include Madhumati, Udankhatola, Kohinoor, Leader, Vidhata, Mashal and Dastaan. These are the movies that I loved I might g\have missed soe great ones from the list, I may be excused on that! akhir 50 ka to man bhi hone jaa raha hoon- thoda bahut bhulane ki bimaari mujhe ho hi rahi hai aaj kal. I particularly like the song mujhe duniya walon sharabi na samajho I was not aware of its meaning at tha point of time as a young boy when I used to this song. Then there was ai mere dil kahin aur chal or o door ke musafir hamko bhi saath lele re, ham rah gaye akele and the ever green madhuban mein radhika naachi re and Ramchandra kah gaye siya se aisa kaliyug ayega and the immortal chhodo kal ki baatein kal ki baat puraani naye daur mein likhenge milkar nai kahani hum hindustani. Here again I may not have been able to recapitulate the most or best of all te songs that his movies offered to the world of great Hindi film songs. There are far too many of them to be able to recollect all of them in a single stroke in one frame of mind.

I would put Dilip saab in the category of to five great actors that India produced - to name them should be enough sequence and order would mean injustice to each of them - Raj Kapoor, Devanand, Dilip Kumar, Guru Dutt and Amitabh Bachchan. I do not even know if these actors appeared in the same order that I have put them but probably it was on the back of my mind. It does not in any way belittles the contribution of several other great actors that Hindi cinema has produced who all held their forts in their prime times. Long live the Hindi Cinema long live the talent that it porduced.

I would now take leave of you. I have a feeling that you would probably not get back to this particular day’s blog so you would never get to read it. I would make it available on my blogspot for sake of its significance - that it has been written after a great post on Dilip saab by you!

Abhaya Sharma, India February 3 2009 12:37 Hours

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