Desk: The veteran Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar has passed away. He was 98. He is survived by his wife Saira Banu, who is also a veteran actor.
The veteran actor passed away at 7.30 a.m. He has been ailing for several days and was being treated at Hinduja Hospital.
The hospital said that his BP and Haemoglobin were falling.
His official twitter account also confirmed the news of his demise. Signed by Faisal Farooqui, it said: “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.”
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his condolence message, said: “Dilip Kumar Ji will be remembered as a cinematic legend. He was blessed with unparalleled brilliance, due to which audiences across generations were enthralled. His passing away is a loss to our cultural world. Condolences to his family, friends and innumerable admirers. RIP.”
Mourning his death, Amitabh Bachchan remarked: “An institution has gone .. whenever the history of Indian Cinema will be written , it shall always be ‘before Dilip Kumar, and after Dilip Kumar’ .. My duas for peace of his soul and the strength to the family to bear this loss ..Deeply saddened .. “
Dilip Kumar has been one of the biggest stars of Bollywood cinema often known as the tragedy king.
During the 1940-60 period, often known as the golden age of Hindi cinema, Dilip Kumar formed the fabled triumvirate of actors with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand that defined the Bollywood mainsteam the way we see it largely today.
Condolences are pouring in from all over the country and beyond as people mourn his demise.
Kumar debuted as an actor in the film Jwar Bhata (1944), produced by Bombay Talkies.
In a career spanning over five decades, Kumar worked in over 65 films. Kumar is known for roles in films such as the romantic Andaz (1949), the swashbuckling Aan (1952), the social drama Daag (1952), the dramatic Devdas (1955), the comical Azaad (1955), the epic historical Mughal-e-Azam (1960), the social dacoit crime drama Gunga Jamuna (1961), and the comedy Ram Aur Shyam (1967).
In 1976, Kumar took a five-year break from film performances and returned with a character role in the film Kranti (1981) and continued his career playing leading roles in films such as Shakti (1982), Mashaal (1984), Karma (1986) and Saudagar (1991). His last film was Qila (1998).
The new generation of cinema fans saw his acting prowess in Shakti as he acted with prodigious Amitabh Bachchan.
Film Shakti has several scenes of confrontation between Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar. In all such scenes Dilip Kumar came out as a seasoned actor with his nuanced acting and precise dialogue delivery.
And then he also followed it up by doing a film with young Anil Kapoor. In both films, many felt, Dilip Kumar proved the adage that the old is always gold.
While both Anil Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan acted their best in these two films, the star performance undoubtedly came from Dilip Kumar.
His performance in Mashaal where he was seeking help on the road has been much acclaimed, discussed and fabled.
Dilip Kumar had a long relationship with actress Madhubala but never married her. He married actress Saira Banu in 1966. He resided with his wife in Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra in India.
