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This is with reference to the article ‘Dilip Kumar and Sher-O-Sukhan’ (EOS, July 18), which, as one can sense, is an elegy of Dilip Kumar, the great thespian. The article has quoted an incident in which the Padma Shri-decorated actor Tom Alter asked Dilip about what made the latter churn out such ubiquitous magic and excellence on the silver screen. Dilip’s answer was simple: “Sher-o-sukhan”, meaning poetry and literature.
This is also a befitting reply to many of our science and technology buffs, who in their ignorance wonder what good is the study of poetry and literature in this age. It was certainly the in-depth study of poetry and literature that made Dilip unique amongst his peers.
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