Dilip Kumar passed away on 7 July at the age of 98. He was a living legend and the media is full of his obits. But to me, there appears to be a noticeable omission. Not enough has been said about his early big hit of 1948, 'Shaheed', which I believe marked the birth of the 'Tragedy King'. I saw the movie as a nine-year old in Bharatpur and it had such a profound impact on me that I remember it vividly even today, 73 years afterwards. Dilip Kumar played the role of Ram, a young freedom fighter, who defies his father and the authorities to fight for an independent India. In the end, he attains martyrdom and the finale of the movie is his funeral with his body draped in the national flag and the emotional, patriotic song sung in slow tempo by Mohd. Rafi, 'Watan Ki Raah Mein Watan Ke Naujawan Shaheed Hon'. The movie was the biggest grosser of 1948 and the song remains popular to this day. Dilip Kumar's charismatic, tragic role, set him up for being the 'Tragedy King' in future and he would surely have run away with the Best Actor award but for the simple fact that no awards had been instituted upto that time. He followed up with 'Andaz', also a personal favourite of mine, 'Deedar' and 'Daag' by which time the Filmfare Awards had been institutionalised and he duly won the first Best Actor award for the last named movie in 1954. By this time, he had earned the title of the 'Tragedy King' with many more films like 'Devdas' and 'Mughal-E-Azam' to follow.
Dilip Sahib's body was wrapped up in the tricolour for his funeral. Maybe the authorities remembered 'Shaheed'!
RIP Yusuf Khan a.k.a. Dilip Kumar 'Shaheed'.
Your memory is really amazing. I also saw Shaheed in 1948 but cannot recall a single scene!
ReplyDeleteMaybe they did! What a memory! Not sure if I saw the movie, but of course I quite like the song. I like that he got the ‘first Best Actor award for the last named movie.’ Must say you have great memories of cinema and song! Hats off, Yusuf Khan!
ReplyDeleteGreat tribute to Dilip Kumar. I remember the song and also bits of Daag and lots of his other films too. Thank you. Regards
ReplyDeleteI have not been following too much of the press on Dilip Kumar here, so good to hear your comments. Shaheed, at least for our generation was an emotional involvement.I still switch on the radio/FM on both independence day and republic day hoping to hear that song. It gives you goose flesh! In fact turned it on after reading your blog, and in a foreign land, it had a greater impact.
ReplyDeleteTerrific insight and analysis Ravi.
ReplyDeleteVijji