Legendary actor Dilip Kumar would be ringing in his 95 birthday today. Having ruled the Hindi film industry for 6 decades right from 1940's to 1990's, the megastar took a sabbatical from acting to tend to his ailing health. Having starred in the biggest blockbusters of Bollywood such as Mughal-e-azam, Naya Daur, Devdas, Ram Aur Shyam and Madhumati, Dilip Kumar(born as Mohammad Yusuf Khan) earned himself the title 'Tragedy King' for his realistic portrayal of sensitive and pathos driven roles. Critics and experts from Hindi Film Industry, acclaim him among the greatest actors of Hindi cinema history, inspiring many actors in successive generations to follow his footsteps of realistic acting.
Born in Peshawar in the year 1922, Dilip Kumar left for Poona (Present day Pune) in 1940 wherein he managed to set up a sandwich stall at the army club. After having saved enough money from the earnings at the stall he headed to Bombay to work his luck in the films and the rest as they say is history. As his rings in his 95 birthday today in Mumbai, wife and former actress Saira Banu has all the plans to treat him to his favourite delicacies -- biryani and vanilla ice cream -- on the occasion.
Dilip Saab who is just recovering from pneumonia, would be having a small celebration at home this time around. "He loves biryani and that will be made for him but I will give him only little as he is unwell. He is also fond of vanilla ice cream, I will ask the doctors if we can give him a little bit of that too. Then we will have a birthday cake," Banu told PTI.
"We will not have a grand birthday party as he is not keeping well. The immune system is not so good after he was down with pneumonia. I cannot let him exert now," she adds.
Banu is also planning to buy the actor a new pair of shirt and trousers. Dilip Saab who happens to be a simple man with not many materialistic pleasures, loves his simple clothes and good food.
"Dilip Sahab is fond of good and simple clothes. He likes cotton shirts and trousers and matching shoes and socks. He has a huge collection of shoes, which he has from world over.
"Every year I order things of his choice. He is not a materialistic man. He doesn't like expensive gifts. My one consistent gift to him every year is my love, which keeps intensifying,"
Here's sending all the wishes, prayers and love for the yeasteryear's legend. May you recover soon Dilip Saab. Many many happy returns of the day.
(With inputs from PTI)