Golden Era of Bollywood: Happy Birthday DILIP KUMAR - the Tragedy King of Indian cinema,

Dilip Kumar (born Muhammad Yusuf Khan on 11 December 1922) is an Indian film actor also known as Tragedy King,he was born in Peshawar now in Pakistan. He debuted as an actor in the film Jwar Bhata in 1944 produced by Bombay Talkies.In fact it was Devika Rani who sugested to change his name from Yousuf to Dilip Kumar.

Initial films of Dilip Kumar went un noticed, it was Jugnu (1947) in which he starred alongside Noor Jehan that became his first major hit at the box office. His next major hit was the 1948 film Shaheed. He got his breakthrough role with Mehboob Khan's Andaz(1949) in which he starred alongside Raj Kapoor and Nargis in a love triangle story. Shabnam also released that year was also a hit.
He went on to have success in the 1950s with playing leading roles in romantic films like Jogan (1950), Tarana (1951) Hulchul (1951) Deedar (1951), Aan (1952) Daag (1952), Uran Khatola, Devdas (1955), Yahudi (1958) and Madhumati (1958). These films established his screen image as the "Tragedy King".

He was the first actor to receive a Filmfare Best Actor Award and holds the record for most number of Filmfare Awards won for that category. In fact he is the winner of 9 Filmfare Awards and still holds the record for the most number of Filmfare awards won for that category with 8 wins.

Throughout the 1950s he was one of the biggest stars of Bollywood along with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand. Dev Anand, who had 3 flops from 1946-47, became a star when Ziddi became a hit in 1948 and Raj Kapoor's fortune as an actor changed when Andaz became a hit in 1949.Thus among the trio, first to become a star was Dilip Kumar and then second was Dev Anand and then Raj Kapoor.
His career has spanned over six decades and with over 60 films.The period of 1949-1961 is considered the peak period of Dilip Kumar's career as a hero. From late 1960s roles dried up for Kumar as films starring Dev Anand, Rajendra Kumar and Shammi Kapoor were more successful from 1961-1969 and also Dilip's films from 1966 to 1976 were box office flops like Dil Diya Dard Liya, Sunghursh, Aadmi, Dastaan, Gopi, Sagina and Bairaag and after 1976 he left films for a five year break.
In 1981 Dilip returned with a character role at insistence of Manoj Kumar in the blockbuster film Kranti and continued his career playing central character roles in multi-hero films such as Shakti (1982), Karma (1986), Vidhaata, Mazdoor, Mashaal, Duniya, Dharm Adhikari, Kanoon Apna Apna, Izzatdaar, Saudagar (1991), Qila. But his only films to be successful from 1981 at box office were Kranti, Vidhaata, Karma, Dharm Adhikari, Kanoon Apna Apna and Saudagar. He has retired from the Indian Film Industry in 1998.He is best remembered for his variety of roles in 'Andaz', 'Aan', 'Devdas', 'Azaad', 'Mughal-e-Azam', 'Ganga Jamuna' and Naya Daur.

He married actress Saira Banu, who was 22 years younger than him, in 1966. He married a second time in 1980 to Asma but the marriage ended soon after.Dilip Kumar undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca in 2013 along with his Saira.
The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 1991, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994 and India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan in 2015 for his contributions towards Indian cinema and nominated him to Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian Parliament for a term.

My Favourite Dilip kumar's Songs