DILIP KUMAR- The Ultimate Method Actor

 

Dilip Kumar was not only one of the earliest superstars of Hindi cinema, but also one of the few legendary artists India has seen. Dilip Kumar's resume contains many of Indian cinema's landmark, genre-defining roles. His performances as the drunken, doomed lover in Devdas and the rebellious royal son in Mughal-e-Azam have been endlessly referenced by his successors on-screen. In Madhumati, he set the trend for reincarnation films. In Ram Aur Shyam, he established the twins-separated-at-birth formula. He became the first-ever winner of the Filmfare Best Actor award for Daag in 1954 and went on to win the award another seven times. 

 Born as Yusuf Khan in Peshawar on December 11, 1922, it’s said that it was Devika Rani who spotted him at Pune’s military canteen. She told him to come to Mumbai and offered him his first film Jwar Bhata (1944). Since then in 6 decades he appeared in 65 films. His span across a staggering 50 + years, was full of some classics and utterly dedicated performances. He won as many as 8 Filmfare Awards for Best Actor (Daag, Azaad, Devdas, Naya Daur, Kohinoor, Leader, Ram Aur Shyam, Shakti) Let's look into the performance of Dilip Kumar in these films

Daag 1952

Dilip Kumar won the first-ever Filmfare Award in the Best Actor category for his performance in this film. The Awards were instituted in 1954. The film fared well at the box office and was declared a hit. Dilip Kumar played the character of Shankar . Who was addicted to alcohol? He is attracted to Parvati (Nimmi), who also lives a poor lifestyle. Shankar wanted to marry her but being a drunkard her stepbrother Jagat Narayan refused. In a dramatic turn of events, Jagat Narayan agrees to marry Parvati with Shankar, Shankar quits alcohol and the film finally finishes with a happy ending.

Azaad (1955)

 It was the top-grossing Hindi film in the year of its release, and one of the biggest Hindi films hits in the decade. After so many films Dilip Kumar played a light-hearted role and the result was this swashbuckling adventure. The tragic hero was transformed into a Robin Hood character who is also a master of disguises. He uses guile and charm to outwit the villain and woo the heroine played by Meena Kumari who too seemed glad to be out of her three handkerchief roles. 

Devdas 1955

The film had Dilip Kumar in the title role and Vyjayanthimala in her first dramatic role where she played as Chandramukhi, a hooker with a heart of gold and Suchitra Sen in her Bollywood debut as Parvati in the lead. Motilal, Nazir Hussain, Murad, Pratima Devi, Iftekhar and Shivraj were playing other significant roles with Pran and Johnny Walker in extended cameo appearances.
Dilip Kumar played a man driven by unrequited love into being a drunkard to perfection. His eyes are hazy throughout the film and his silences are eloquent. He got so much under the skin of the character that it’s said he had to go to London and consult Harley Street psychiatrists to overcome depression. 

Naya Daur 1957

For this film, Dilip Kumar won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the third time in a row, being his fourth overall. Man Vs Machine was the theme of this pioneering film which made you question the price of progress. Director BR Chopra’s socialist strand was ever-present in this humanist drama. Dilip played the rustic Tangewala to perfection, flirting outrageously with his firebrand heroine Vyjayanthimala. 

Madhumati 1958

The film stars Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala in the lead roles, with Pran and Johnny Walker in supporting roles. The plot focuses on Anand, a modern man who falls in love with a tribal woman named Madhumati. They are unable to have a relationship during their lifetimes and are reincarnated.Excellent performances by both Dilip and Vyjayanthimala. It won nine Filmfare Awards; including Best Film, Best Director, Best Music Director, Best Female Playback Singer, Best Dialogue, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematographer—the most awards for a single film at that time. It also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

Kohinoor 1960

Kohinoor cast Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari to play a prince and princess of different kingdoms and was full of sword fights, songs and dances. This film is also notable for some rare comical and funny scenes by Meena Kumari, who is otherwise known as the tragedy queen. Its tone was light and it lacked the intense characterizations of their earlier films. It was a major hit of the year.It had great music by Naushad. Gems like Madhuban mein Radhika naache re (Dilip Kumar reportedly learned to play the guitar to lend authenticity to the song) and Do sitaron ka zameen par hai milan regale us even today.

Mughal-e-Azam 1960

 Released on 5 August 1960, it broke box office records in India and became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time, a distinction it held for 15 years.Starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, and Durga Khote, it follows the love affair between MughalPrince Salim (who went on to become Emperor Jahangir) and Anarkali, a court dancer. Salim's father, Emperor Akbar, disapproves of the relationship, which leads to a war between father and son.

Ganga Jamuna 1961

The film stars Dilip Kumar, Nasir Khan and Vyjayanthimala in leading roles, and Azra, Kanhaiyalal, Anwar Hussain, Nazir Hussain and Leela Chitnis in supporting roles.The film features real life brothers Dilip Kumar (Muhammad Yusuf Khan) and Nasir Khan in the title roles.  It was one of the biggest hits of the 1960s and one of the most successful Indian films in terms of box office collection, domestically in India and overseas. Dilip Kumar's performance as Ganga is considered one of the finest acting performances in the history of Indian cinema.

Ram Aur Shyam 1967

This was perhaps Dilip Kumar’s last big hit as a solo star and what can be more fitting than the fact that he played a double role in the film? It’s to his credit that he was able to infuse two different personalities into the roles. Dilip Kumar’s capability isn’t limited to performing serious roles. He can play a light-hearted or comical character in a commercial film too with equal ease.

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Immortal songs of Dilip Kumar

Song from Andaz 1949

Song from Deedar (1951)

Song from Daag (1952)

Song from Azaad (1955)

Song from Madhumati (1958)

Song from Kohinoor(1960)

Song from Ganga Jamuna (1961)

Ashok Kumar - The most bankable star of the 40s

 

The first film of Ashok Kumar was Jeevan Naiya (1936), a Bombay Talkies production.  It was a sheer fluke that he became an actor. He didn't want to become an actor.  Those days, actors were really looked down upon. They were believed to come from the lowest strata of society. He came to Bombay to become a director. So he joined Bombay Talkies as a technician. he worked in the camera department. Later, he was made a lab assistant. He worked as Lab Assistant for 8 months, suddenly Himanshu Rai, the owner of Bombay Talkies made him the hero of the film Jeevan Naiya replacing the existing hero Najam-ul- Hussain.

Initially, he was not comfortable in acting but later gathered confidence in his second film  Achhut Kanya (1936), where he again paired with Devika Rani became a smash hit established him a great actor. After that, he was a permanent hero of all Bombay Talkies movies In 1943 he played the first anti-hero role in Indian cinema. The film Kismet(1943) was the first super duper hit of Indian cinema, It was the first film that collected more than a crore rupees at Box office. Post Kismet, Ashok Kumar became the most bankable star of the era, delivering a succession of box office successes with movies like Chal Chal Re Naujawan (1944), Shikari (1946), Sajan (1947), Mahal (1949), Sangram (1950) and Samadhi (1950).

, Ashok Kumar has ruled the silver screen and melted millions of hearts with his charismatic screen appearance and personality. He was the first superstar of Hindi cinema as well as the first lead actor to play an anti-hero. He also became the first star to reinvent himself, enjoying a long and hugely successful career as a character actor.

He produced several films for Bombay Talkies during the final years of the company including Ziddi (1948), which established the careers of Dev Anand and Pran, Later on, he quit the Bombay Talkies and started Filmistan Studio with Shashdhar Mukharjee, his desire to return to Bombay Talkies was always there." He re-bought Bombay Talkies in 1947. "Devika Rani had left by then. But the Talkies had fallen on bad days. The debts amounted to Rs 28 lakhs. We made movies like Majboor, Ziddi, Mahal, and Mashal to repay the debts."

With the advent of the 1950s, Ashok Kumar switched over to more mature roles, with the exception of the 1958 classic Howrah Bridge. Despite the arrival of a younger crop of stars like Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, and Raj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar remained one of the stars of the era with hits like Afsana (1951), Nau Bahar (1952), Parineeta (1953), Bandish (1955) and EK Hi Raasta (1956). His most successful film of that era was Deedar (1951), in which he played second fiddle to Dilip Kumar.

Ashok Kumar played an important role in several landmark movies in the 1960s and 1970s, including Jewel Thief (1967), Aashirwad (1968) (for which he won a Filmfare Award as well as National Award in 1969), Purab aur Pashchim (1970), Pakeezah (1972), Mili (1975), Chhoti Si Baat (1975) and Khoobsurat (1980).

Ashok Kumar's last film role was in the 1997 movie Aankhon Mein Tum Ho.

. Altogether, he starred in over 275 films. He has done more than 30 Bengali dramas in Dhakuria.He was honored in 1988 with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest national award for cinema artists, by the Government of India and also received the Padma Bhushan in 1999 for his contributions to Indian cinema.

He died at the age of 90 in Mumbai on 10 December 2001 of heart failure at his residence in Chembur. The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee described him as "an inspiration... for many generations of aspiring actors.

If you liked this blog, you would also appreciate my Youtube channel Bollywood Unplugged, the link is given below

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Songs from Ashok Kumar's Films

Koi Hamdam Na Raha from Jeewan Naiya 1936

Original Ek Chatur Naar from Jhula 1941

Song from Kismet 1943

Wahan Kaun Hai Tera- A Complete Story in Few Lines

 

Recall this song from the 1966 film Guide, sung by S D Burman. This was a credit title song in the background as Dev Anand the hero of the film comes out from jail, the song starts right there. The 'Mukhda' starts on a wide shot of the main gate of the jail from inside...'Wahan kaun hai tera, musafir, jaayega kahan'

Vijay Anand, the ace director, and screenplay writer wanted to start the film with a situation and song that would make the audience curious and uneasy, eager to know the story.....He did this with the help of the great Lyricist Shailendra.

If we look into the song minutely we would find the genius of three great people, S D Burman, the composer, Shailendra, the Lyricist, and Vijay Anand, the director. S D Burman composed a tune (actually his old Bangla song, slightly altered) The song starts with a 'Sitaar' notes used in the introduction music..

The sense of freedom is depicted by a strange-looking shot of a tree seen upside down and a group of birds flying away.... The camera moves back to reveal that it was the reflection of the tree in a pool of water....

In the first stanza "Beet gaye din, pyar ke palchhin, sapna bani woh ratein".... "Bhool gaye woh, tu bhi bhulaa de, pyar ki woh mulaaqaatein..." We see Dev Anand walking with a bundle of his belongings slung over his shoulder...The bundle slips and opens.... A close shot of the things that have spilled out... a few photographs of Waheeda Rehman...

The genius of Vijay Anand can be seen in the last shot of the song, we see a sleeping Dev Anand and the shadow of the unknown man as if he is looking at Dev. When the song starts we see Dev Anand smartly dressed with puff hair and as the song ends, he is now lying among the ruins....covered in saffron

If you liked this blog, you would also my Youtube channel, the link is given below

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