He was quite a good singer. Check out this clip of him singing during an interview.
Though born as Mohammed Yusuf Khan - he took the name Dilip Kumar to avoid getting beaten by his father, who was strictly against films.
His father was friends with Basheshwarnath Kapoor, father of Prithwiraj Kapoor and would constantly berate him for his son's career in movies.
So when Dilip Kumar started working in films, he felt that his father will not be happy with his choice of work.
He was given 3 options - Yusuf Khan, Dilip Kumar and Basu Dev. He rejected Yusuf Khan and left the options to the others.
He saw his "name" in an ad 3 months later.
His early roles gave him the title "King of tragedy" and playing tragic characters did have an impact on his mental health.
On consultation with health experts, he took up lighter roles in films such as Aan, Azaad and Kohinoor.
Dilip Kumar set the example for his contemporaries to take the initiative to use their stardom to support good causes and raise funds for the government’s relief work.
He organized celebrity cricket matches to generate funds for the 1962 war. PC @cricketwallah
He led the first troupe that visited the Himalayan border areas to boost the morale of the Border Security Force personnel stationed there after India’s humiliating defeat in the 1962 Indo–China war.
During one such trip ,Mohammed Rafi developed a throat irritation in the freezing cold and felt awful that his voice had gone for a toss. Dilip Kumar gave Rafi hot water and honey at hourly intervals till his voice came back. Rafi, a teetotaler, would not touch what others drank.
He is one of the few Indians to be awarded the Nishaan-e-Imtiaz, Pakistan's highest civilian honour. His house in Peshawar is now a "protected monument". This pic of a young Dilip is seen in the house.
He visited the house with Saira Banu in 1998.
Dilip Kumar famously worked on one film at a time back in the 1960's. The Bombay producers body had put a ceiling on the number of assignments an actor can take up.
He moved to Madras to be away from the cacophony and his disagreement with the Bombay producers.
There he made Ram aur Shyam and Aadmi, which were remakes of hugely successful Telugu and Tamil films.
Dilip Kumar was a polyglot with good command over Hindi, Urdu, Pashtun, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Konkani.
According to Salim Khan, Dilip Kumar rejected more films than he acted in. But he regretted not doing only 3 movies - Baiju Bawra, Pyaasa and Zanjeer.
Kamal Haasan, was a big fan of Dilip Kumar.
“I grew up hero-worshipping Shivaji Ganesan. He was like the guiding sun in my life. Then I discovered an entire galaxy in Dilip Saab."
A school-going kid once visited the Congress party office, where Tamil lyricist Kavirajar Kannadasan asked, "Would you like to work in films, child?" The kid said, "Ask my father."
This child was destined to become one of India's greatest superstars!
A thread on Sridevi! 🧵
It is said that when Sridevi was born, there was a bright red mark on her forehead, and hence people started that a devi had born in the house.
Thus she was named Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan.
Before ruling the box office as a leading star, Sridevi was a phenomenally accomplished child artist.
Here she is, sharing the screen with MG Ramachandran, playing his nephew in a film that also starred J. Jayalalitha!
This film, starring Supriya Pathak & Hugh Grant, is based on a novel by Mircea Eliade.
Its the story of a 23-year-old Mircea who came to Calcutta to study under philosopher Surendranath Dasgupta.
There, he fell in love with Maitreyi - teacher's daughter.
Sounds familiar? A 🧵
In this novel, Mircea fictionalizes how his love story was cut short because Surendranath Dasgupta was unhappy about the relationship. The relationship was "exposed" by Maitreyi Devi's sister.
The novel was published in 1933, a couple of years after Mircea's time in Calcutta.
For some additional context, Maitreyi was a savant! Maitreyi was mentored by Rabindranath Tagore, and she even wrote a book Mongpute Rabindranath (Tagore by The Fire Side) about the time spent with the great poet.
20 years ago, we were reminded that good films need not make money, & films that make good money need not be great!
On June 18, 2004, Lakshya was released, telling the story of an aimless rich youngster who joins the Indian Army & discovers his true goal.
A thread🧵
Lakshya was written by @Javedakhtarjadu: He was told by senior army officers about the declining enrollments to the Indian army each year, prompting him to promise to write a film addressing the issue!
The script marked Akthar's comeback as a scriptwriter after ages!
Lakshya was a departure from the kinds of war movies made at the time like Border, LOC Kargil etc.
In fact, director @FarOutAkhtar's goal was to tell a story about a boy who finds himself in the backdrop of Kargil War.
On June 15, 2001, the world saw the release of a monumental film in scale & vision, with its main plot revolving around a cricket match between India & the British Empire!
A thread 🧵on Lagaan, the film that convinced Aamir Khan to pursue the kind of films he believed in.
After two failed attempts at films, @AshGowariker's confidence was low.
He then conceived a story where a key battle is resolved by a cricket match. He pitched this to Aamir in 4 lines, who told him not to waste time on this.
Lagaan was @AshGowariker’s third foray into direction after his earlier two movies – Pehla Nasha and Baazi.
Baazi is famous for the “Item number” by Aamir Khan. Pehla Nasha had Aamir and SRK in the same movie with some cringe worthy puns
This is freedom fighter Raj Narain, who achieved the greatest electoral upset in India's history.
In the 1977 elections held after the lifting of the Emergency, Raj Narain defeated Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
A thread 🧵
The story begins with the 1971 election.
Originally scheduled for 1972, Indira Gandhi called for early elections, catching opposition by surprise.
The opposition quickly recovered and nominated Raj Narain to contest against Mrs. Gandhi in Rae Bareli.
📸 @htTweets
Indira Gandhi was probably displeased with the nomination.
At a campaign rally she said, "Mr. Narain had been chosen by the opposition parties to contest from Rae Bareli because he was a well-known Nehru hater and baiter."