Dilip Kumar is not merely the screen name of a single historical individual, Yusuf Khan of Peshawar. It designates a cultural phenomenon, a wave, a meteoric spectacle and a creative jet.
He was all around us in my younger days; one recalls his gigantic posters in front of cinema halls, with endless lines of unruly sometimes rioting ticket hopefuls, lines reminiscent of the Great Wall of China, and around these lines black marketeers fluttering, multiplying the ticket prices as much as sixfold. In every alley, ordinary folk would sing songs masterfully lip-synced by this giant.
My uncle used to boast that he was among those champions who saw the very first screening of Aan, India’s first film shot in 16mm Gevacolor and blown up in 35mm Technicolor, a film created by the legendary Dilip Kumar-Mehboob Khan-Naushad trio. In fact, this Dilip-enthusiast uncle of mine would tell us his winner’s tale: he had prevailed upon his friends in the entertainment tax department to interced