{"id":10190,"date":"2012-07-08T01:54:59","date_gmt":"2012-07-08T05:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/forum\/?p=10190"},"modified":"2019-03-04T17:50:40","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T22:50:40","slug":"blast-from-the-past-the-terrible-truths-about-the-thespian-dilip-kumar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/blast-from-the-past-the-terrible-truths-about-the-thespian-dilip-kumar\/","title":{"rendered":"Blast from the Past: The Terrible Truths about the Thespian Dilip Kumar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Check out this 1982 Stardust article about Dilip Kumar.<\/strong><\/em>
\n\"\"Even though the whole country was disillusioned, seething with fury and utterly disgusted when their darling Dilip Kumar deceived them about his second marriage, it wasn\u2019t long before people forgave, forgot and started making excuses for their idol. Within a couple of months, Dilip Kumar was back on his pedestal. The public had literally grown up believing in his legend, fans had lived with stories of his greatness for too long to accept his feet of clay because of just one mistake.<\/p>\n

Now however, it\u2019s come to light that Asma was not the legend\u2019s first mistake. It was only the first to be exposed! The expose, however belated, seems to have aroused the other \u2018wronged parties\u2019 who have kept quiet about their suffering all these years, out of fear for themselves and their families. Today, there\u2019s no end to the stories shattering the white-washed fa\u00e7ade, no restraint in the explosion of the myth of the ex-Sheriff, the actor nonpareil, the perfect family man, the legendary lover, the Godfather of the industry. One (exposed) slip-up has cost the fallen angel his thirty-year-old image!<\/p>\n

So far, the only well-known negative aspect of this Marlon Brando of the Indian screen was that he had the habit of interfering with his scripts, directing his directors and delaying his films. Any filmmaker who signed Dilip Kumar, did so after knowing what to expect from the screen God. Those who resented his encroaching, never worked with him.<\/p>\n

But it hasn\u2019t been such simple and straight dealing always. Very few people are aware that the thespian has time and again deliberately cheated his producers, ruined his directors and put film families out of action for years, even at times, forever\u2026<\/p>\n

Manmohan Desai and his family of filmmakers were one of Dilip Kumar\u2019s first victims. It is said that M.D\u2019s father was one of the industry\u2019s richest producers in his time. In fact, he had so much money, that he used to get his wardrobe specially flown in from the most expensive boutique in Paris! But, he made one mistake \u2013 he signed Dilip Kumar for one of his films and with it, he lost everything he had achieved and amassed in life. \u201cThat film never got made,\u201d his son Manmohan Desai recalled sadly. \u201cMy father almost became a pauper.\u201d<\/p>\n

As if his own extravagant demands during and after the film\u2019s making weren\u2019t enough, Dilip Kumar even instigated Saira Banu as a major accomplice in the Desais\u2019 downfall. The producers had signed Saira for their Bluff Master, a black and white venture, which was supposed to be a quickie. While the film was still on the floors, Saira\u2019s Junglee was released and became an all time hit. Immediately the beauty queen and her mother demanded that Bluff Master be switched to Technicolor, because Saira Banu had become too big a star for a black and white film. At the time, the Desais could neither afford to give in to their heroine\u2019s demands, nor to scrap the film, so they begged and pleaded with Saira to complete the project as it was. The actress turned to her family friend (they weren\u2019t married then), Dilip who insisted that the Desais abide by Saira\u2019s request!<\/p>\n

It took years for the Desais to complete their \u2018quickie\u2019. After which, they were not just financially ruined but also completely out of business. This has made Manmohan Desai so bitter about Dilip and Saira, that today he is the only filmmaker who dares to openly declare, \u201cDilip Kumar may be a fabulous artiste, the best in the country, but I will never make the mistake of signing him for my film!\u201d<\/p>\n

Another filmmaker who is still trying to get back his foothold in the industry, after being back stabbed by his idol, is Chandra Barot. Chandra was more of a family-member in the Yousuf Khan household, than a producer. After he launched his Master with the thespian and his begum in the lead, he fell hook, line and sinker under the Dilip Kumar spell. He hung around the legend night and day, played his chauffeur, bodyguard, odd-job man, etc., while Dilip Kumar worked on the script of Master. Chandra was convinced that as soon as the paper work was done, they would shoot continuously and complete the film at a stretch. Unfortunately, for Barot, Dilip Kumar never completed the script itself!<\/p>\n

Reason: He never intended to, because he was only using Chandra and his film as a pawn to keep his wife from going back to a full-time career on screen. He had convinced Saira that she should work in just two good films \u2013 their home production and Master.<\/p>\n

Dilip Kumar\u2019s little selfish game cost Chandra Barot his career. Today, industrywallas mock him on his face, as a filmmaker who starts but never finishes anything. Financiers, distributors, even stars refuse to back his projects. Chandra has lost the credibility and standing he\u2019d built up after Don. Though he doesn\u2019t hit out at the thespian openly, the undercurrent of bitterness is obvious whenever he speaks about Dilip. \u201cI have wasted a lot of my time on Master, but it couldn\u2019t be helped,\u201d Barot declares wryly. \u201cHow was I to know that I was being taken for a ride?\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, another producer Kishore Sharma is waiting and sweating it out like Barot, for Dilip Kumar to give the dates and the green signal to start Chandragupta Chanakya, which he had launched at least five years ago! \u201cI get very upset when I hear people say that my film will never be made.\u201d Mr. Sharma snaps nervously. \u201cBut let me make this one thing very clear, Chanakya is more important to me than an artiste or star. I will definitely make this film with or without Mr. Dilip Kumar.\u201d Of course, he hastily adds that only the thespian fits the role perfectly and that only Dilip Kumar can do full justice to it! And the fact that he has waited so long and pampered every whim and fancy of the best actor, only proves that Sharma has no intentions of replacing Dilip Kumar\u00a0 in his film.<\/p>\n

According to insiders however, the reason why Kishore Sharma is standing by Dilip Kumar is not so much for his suitability to the role, but the power he commands in the industry. \u201cSharma is not an industrywalla,\u201d revealed a know all. \u201cChanakya is his first film. The man is scared that if he throws Dilip saab out, his only ambition in life (to make this film) will remain incomplete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Incidentally, Kishore Sharma is not the only one who is afraid of Dilip\u2019s powerful connections. In fact, fear seems to be quite a common feeling amongst the people who\u2019ve fallen into the thespian\u2019s bad books. It is believed that Dilip Kumar has a lot of friends in the underworld, who act as his bodyguards and protectors whenever he needs them. In fact, industry people insist that Dilip has often used these connections to get even with his \u2018enemies\u2019.<\/p>\n

His own brother-in-law Iqbal Khan (son of the late Mehboob Khan) is said to be terrified of the thespian. When his marriage to Dilip\u2019s sister (Saeeda) didn\u2019t work out, Iqbal wanted a divorce. Till today (so many years later), he hasn\u2019t got it because Dilip Kumar is supposed to have threatened to ruin Iqbal if he ever gave \u2018talaq\u2019 to his sister. \u201cDilip saab is very, very possessive about his family.\u201d Revealed an insider, \u201cand he is capable of killing any man who so much as tries to hurt them!\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, though the couple lives separately, Iqbal continues to provide for his wife. Not only does he pay for her maintenance (including\u00a0 a car)\u00a0 and all her expenses, but he even sends her daily\u00a0 meals (breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner)\u00a0 from his home (above Mehboob Studios) to her brother\u2019s bungalow (where\u00a0 she now lives)!<\/p>\n

However, since Iqbal and his family members were too scared to clarify this, it was difficult to say how far the story was true or exaggerated. But people close to Dilip\u2019s second brother-in-law (K. Asif) insist that the actor had had a big hand in getting the filmmaker beaten up by goondas when the two men fell out with each other. Reportedly, Dilip could never forgive K. Asif when he betrayed Dilip\u2019s trust in him, and eloped with his sister Akhtar. Even his own family members recall how violent Dilip became when anyone so much as mentioned their names in his presence. That\u2019s why when one night both Asif and Akhtar were brutally beaten up by a masked man, everyone was certain that the goondas had been sent by Dilip Kumar to teach the couple a lesson!<\/p>\n

Ismat Chugtai, the well-known Urdu writer who has been extremely close to Dilip Kumar and his family, put\u00a0 the Dilip-K. Asif\u00a0 showdown in its proper perspective. \u201cI have known Yousuf\u00a0 for a long time now,\u201d\u00a0 she explained seriously, \u201cand I do recall how furious he was when his best friend ran away with his sister. Yousuf\u00a0 does have a terrible temper, and it is\u00a0 quite possible that he must have even threatened\u00a0 to kill K. Asif\u00a0 for what he had done. But I know for sure that Dilip Kumar was not in any way involved in that awful (beat-up) incident. The poor man isn\u2019t even capable of hurting a fly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dilip\u2019s sister-in-law and star of yesteryears, Begum Para, however, didn\u2019t second Ismat Chugtai\u2019s opinion. Though she pleaded complete ignorance where the Asif case was concerned, she insisted that Dilip Kumar was certainly not as innocent as he looked! \u201cYousuf is the biggest charmer,\u201d she declared cynically. \u201cBut behind that sweet charm lies the most vindictive man one can ever come across! He never forgets anything, and he always believes in striking back when you least expect him to. Basically, the man is a coward and does not confront his opponent face to face. He always hits out from behind!\u201d<\/p>\n

Begum Para was speaking from her own personal experience. The raw deal that she and her children got from her husband\u2019s brother, is something they will never forget. When Nasir Khan suddenly died of a heart-attack while location hunting for his film Zid, his wife Para was left with the sole responsibility of completing the film. \u201cOur hero Sanjay Khan was more than co-operative,\u201d she recalled. \u201cHe was making his own film, Chandi Sona at that time, but he assured me that he\u2019d give me his dates whenever I wanted them.<\/p>\n

I was deeply touched. But my heroine Saira Banu and her husband saw to it that I never completed the film. Apart from Saira Banu playing\u00a0 games and harassing me for dates, Dilip Kumar\u00a0 played a very dirty game with me,\u201d Begum\u00a0 Para related wryly. \u201cHe went up to all our distributors and convinced them that he would take the responsibility of completing the film his brother had started. Of course, the distributors were extremely happy and felt very reassured with his guarantee. Every time I wanted to shoot and went to the distributors for the finance, I was told that they would talk to Yousuf saab about it, since he had asked them to deal with him directly. But of course, Dilip Kumar made sure he was never available when they needed him! He just disappeared for eight months.<\/p>\n

Under the bahana of helping his poor sister-in-law, he was very discreetly and cunningly cutting off my roots. I was left with no alternative but to shelve my film and go off to Pakistan and live with my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Para still remembered the time she\u2019d gone to say goodbye to Dilip and Saira before leaving the country. \u201cI was told that they were not at home,\u201d she said. \u201cSo the next day, I called up their place in the morning. Saira informed me that her saab could not come on the phone as he was sleeping. I told her that I didn\u2019t know how long I would be in Pakistan and it was just possible that I would never return and that I would like to say goodbye to my brother-in-law. She made me hold on for some time and came back only to tell me that she had tried her best, but he would not get up!\u201d<\/p>\n

Dilip Kumar must have really believed that Para and her kids had quit India for good, otherwise he would\u2019ve never done what he did soon after their departure. Begum Para was in for the biggest and the most unbelievable jolt of her life when she unexpectedly returned to India one fine day. \u201cDilip Kumar was having some financial problems because of Ganga Jamuna,\u201d she revealed. \u201cMy husband was the producer of the film and he had given the rights of Ganga Jamuna to one of the distributors. The only way Dilip Kumar could get himself out of the mess was by getting the rights of the film for himself. So, he declared that a trust had been formed (headed by Dilip Kumar and including all his other brothers and sisters) by my husband for the film. How could my husband forget to add his wife\u2019s name and especially those of his three small kids? The fact is that my husband had died intestate. He had made no will. I never thought that the great Dilip Kumar would stoop to this level even if it was to save his own skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incident embittered the lady to such an extent that when Dilip Kumar later tried to make up by offering to help his brother\u2019s children, Begum Para promptly called him up, and retorted. \u201cHow can you be so presumptuous as to even think that I would want your help for my children?\u201d<\/p>\n

Can one believe such behavior from a man who has always been the first star to organize charity cricket matches and variety shows for the poor and the needy? In fact, when he was the Sheriff of Bombay, Dilip Kumar refused to open any exhibition or inaugurate any shop or be the chief guest at any function, unless\u00a0 the organizers donated a certain amount of money to any one of the three charitable institutions he was supporting. But then, like a Yousuf Khan critic puts it.\u00a0 \u201cIt is very easy to be charitable when you don\u2019t have to put in your own money. Dilip Kumar has always loved to project a public image, which is so completely different from his real self!\u201d<\/p>\n

Even his first begum Saira Banu will confirm this. \u201cSaab is full of double standards,\u201d she had said after the Asma-scandal broke out. \u201cHe knows that he has a blind following and he often takes advantage of this to get his own work done. He works so hard on his speeches and sways the masses with them. Even I was very impressed with his word. It was only after what he did to me (his second marriage), that I realized how empty and meaningless his speeches were. He never means what he says. His public image and the Yousuf Khan I now know are two completely different identities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to believe,\u201d continued a Saira Banu campwalla, \u201cbut the great Dilip Kumar is actually an extremely petty man. Do you know that when Sunil Dutt was made the Sheriff, Dilip Kumar spent sleepless nights? He was so very upset. \u2018How can they make him the Sheriff? What has he achieved so far? What has he done to deserve this post?\u2019 Dilip cried over and over again. He could not accept the fact that another film personality could hold the post he once had held! But of course, on Mr. Dutt\u2019s face he was the perfect charmer. In fact, he was the first one to send him flowers and a congratulatory message. He was even around when Dutt saab was sworn in as the Sheriff. With all the back slapping and the hugging, one couldn\u2019t even imagine that Dilip Kumar held any grudge against the new Sheriff!\u201d<\/p>\n

Even women, especially his heroines, weren\u2019t immune from Dilip Kumar\u2019s petty grudges and revenge tactics. During his hey-days, Suraiya was probably the only top actress who didn\u2019t send out feelers for films with him. Initially, intrigued by her indifference, Dilip requested K. Asif to cast them together. Suraiya accepted Janwar, but throughout the shooting, she stayed away from her co-star, ignored all his advances and was on her best professional behaviour. Humiliated by her blatant disinterest, Dilip got his own back in a way that fills Suraiya with disgust to this date.<\/p>\n

When the actress reported for shooting one day, the director narrated a particular hot scene which she had to perform. Suraiya had to lie flat on her stomach, while Dilip climbed over her back, scratched her passionately and tore her clothes. Asif made the couple do the scene over and over again. It was only later when she spotted the two friends laughing together, that Suraiya caught on that the scene was just Dilip Kumar\u2019s badla on her \u2013 it was not in the script and there was no film in the camera during\u00a0 its \u2018shooting\u2019! Humiliated and furious, Suraiya stormed out of the sets and right out of the film.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never said a word,\u201d Suraiya recalled bitterly. \u201cI quietly walked out. If I had retaliated, I would have brought myself down to his level. I didn\u2019t want to give him that satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

But unlike Suraiya, her contemporary Nimmi didn\u2019t take Dilip Kumar\u2019s advances lying down. During the making of Amar, Nimmi slapped Dilip right across the face, in front of the whole unit, when he tried to make an ugly pass at her. Of course, since the strict no-nonsense Mehboob Khan was the director of the film, Dilip Kumar had no alternative but to quietly bear the public insult and he never got the opportunity to get even with her because Nimmi made sure that she never worked with the thespian again.<\/p>\n

Nimmi and Suraiya, however, were the exceptions in Dilip Kumar\u2019s love-life, for as a rule, women were an easy prey for the legendary lover. Waheeda Rehman still hurts when she remembers how Dilip had ditched her almost at the altar! Reportedly, Dilip had proposed to her in Madras, but when he had changed his mind later, he didn\u2019t even have the decency to inform her! Waheeda\u2019s people remember how terribly shocked she was when she read about Dilip\u2019s engagement to Saira Banu in the papers. That\u2019s why, the moment the Rehmans heard about Dilip\u2019s second marriage, Waheeda\u2019s sister Saeeda immediately went and told Saira about it. \u201cOf course, I didn\u2019t believe her,\u201d Saira said sheepishly. \u201cI thought that she was only getting her own back at Saab and me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWaheeda was not the only woman Dilip ditched at the last moment when he announced his engagement to Saira,\u201d revealed Begum Para. She spoke of a married Princess he\u2019d been involved with, who even got a divorce from her first husband to marry Dilip. Ismat Chugtai added Kamini Kaushal to the list, and insisted that the actress was ready to end her marriage for a permanent relationship with Dilip Kumar, till the thespian backed out at the last moment. \u201cThe two of them were so madly in love with each other,\u201d revealed Ms. Chugtai, who got to see the love couple together while they were co-starring in her film Arzoo. \u201cI don\u2019t think Dilip Kumar has ever loved a woman with as much passion as he loved Kamini.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Ismat played quite a go between for them because Kamini was always heavily chaperoned by her mother and brother. \u201cThey hounded her wherever she went,\u201d explains Ms. Chugtai, \u201cand did not allow her to exchange a word with Dilip. My hero was so upset, that he refused to shoot till he could spend more time alone with Kamini. So, we thought of a plan. We had a big pillar built and we hired a crane to take Dilip, Kamini and the cameraman up. We pretended to shoot a scene there. Actually, there was no film in the camera and the poor cameraman had to spend the whole day looking the other way while Dilip and Kamini held hands and talked to their heart\u2019s content. Of course, the whole drama cost us a lot of money. But we had to do it for our film.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the biggest drama Dilip Kumar played was with the late Madhubala, so it\u2019s hardly surprising that her family still blames him for her death! Though the Madhubala-Dilip Kumar affair is almost a forgotten twenty-two\u00a0 year old legend now, her sisters still smart at the way the actor had abused her love for him. \u201cWhy do you want me to talk about that man and insult my dead sister\u2019s holy spirit?\u201d demands Madhubala\u2019s eldest sister, Mrs. Kaniz Balsara, whenever Dilip\u2019s name is mentioned. \u201cOnly recently, his sister Fauzia who stays opposite us, came over to tell us that her brother had got married a second time and that she was extremely happy about it. I told her point-blank that I wasn\u2019t. If he\u2019s got married a second time to get children, I told her that would never happen. Dilip Kumar will never get an aulad. And the day he gets one, I\u2019ll know that there is no God in this world. Is duniya mein Khuda nahin hai. My sister was literally craving for a child, but she died without bearing one. If Dilip Kumar had married her, this would have never happened. How can he get a child now?\u201d<\/p>\n

She insisted that the thespian had made an emotional fool of her sister, for he never had any intentions\u00a0 of marrying her. \u201cHe\u00a0 expected her to give up wearing silks and chiffon and forced her\u00a0 to wear simple cotton salwar-kameezes,\u201d she revealed\u00a0 bitterly. \u201cMy sister obeyed him. He asked her to remove her make-up, tie her hair back in a simple knot, never to use nail polish. My sister agreed. But when he told her that he would marry her only if she promised never to meet her father or her family, my sister burst into tears and told him that we were her blood and that she could never leave us. How can a man who so openly claims to be so very close to his own brothers and sisters, expect another human being to leave her family?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mrs. Balsara pointed out that Dilip\u2019s only grouse against their father was that when Dilip asked Madhubala to marry him immediately and stop working, their father had only insisted that she should complete all the films she had in hand first. \u201cMy father only told Dilip that he would not allow Madhu to ditch her producers. She would not sign any new films, but she had to complete her old commitments. Tell me was he wrong? But Dilip Kumar is a very revengeful man,\u201d Mrs. Balsara went on furiously. \u201cHe paid my father back when he made a statement against him in court. Madhu was never able to forgive Dilip for that. She told him that she loved him, but she loved her father too, and she would not allow anyone to insult him in public. Dilip Kumar is a hypocrite,\u201d Mrs. Balsara said bitterly. \u201cHe is a man full of double standards. He did not make the same rules for his wife Saira Banu. She was not only allowed to work in films after marriage but, please excuse my language, he even made his biwi dance nanga on screen!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sister loved only one man,\u201d she said emotionally. \u201cMadhu loved Dilip Kumar till the day she breathed her last. The only reason why she married Kishore Kumar was because she wanted to die a suhagan. And the worst thing was that though she knew she was ailing, she wanted to live. After all, she was so young. Dilip Kumar could have made her happy, but he left\u00a0 her when she needed him the most. How can people respect such a man? Woh aadmi nahin, kasaai hai! He is responsible for my sister\u2019s death! I for one, wasn\u2019t surprised when he swore on the Koran and lied to Saira. He is capable of anything. How can people sing praises of such a man?\u201d<\/p>\n

How indeed, is the question? And the answer is the much admired image, the glorified legend and the perfect myth that have so cleverly camouflaged the \u2018truth\u2019 for nearly thirty years!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Check out this 1982 Stardust article about Dilip Kumar. Even though the whole country was disillusioned, seething with fury and utterly disgusted when their darling Dilip Kumar deceived them about his second marriage, it wasn\u2019t long before people forgave, forgot and started making excuses for their idol. Within a couple of months, Dilip Kumar was back on his pedestal. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[471,5598,1855],"tags":[2551,2854,1361,2563,2851,116,6216,2282,2852,1918,2599,175,1041,1711,2234,2853,2855,6218,1371,782,2596,1074],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10190"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}