Dilip Kumar

Born on 11 December 1922 Dilip Kumar who's real name is Yusuf Khan is an Indian film actor and a former Member of Parliament. Dilip Kumar started his acting career in 1944.




Dilip Kumar has starred in some of the most commercially successful films of the late 40s, 50s, 60s and 80s. Dilip Kumar was the first Bollywood actor to receive a Filmfare Best Actor Award and holds the record for numerous number of Filmfare Awards won for that category.

Acted in a wide variety of roles such as the romantic Andaz (1949), Aan (1952), Devdas (1955), Azaad (1955), Mughal E Azam (1960) and Ganga Jamuna (1961), Dilip Kumar in 1976 took a five-year break from the film industry.

In 1981 the versatile actor returned back with a blockbuster film Kranti and continued his career playing central character roles in hit films like Shakti (1982), Karma (1986) and Saudagar (1991) Qila in 1998 which was his last flick.

Dilip Kumar earned the title of "tragedy king" with the films like Devdas, Madhumati, Deedar, Amar,etc. He also became the most popular star of Bollywood in the 1950's and had a huge fan following.

In 1961 Dilip Kumar produced and starred in the hit Ganga Jamuna in which he and his real-life brother Nasir Khan played the title roles. In the 1970s Dilip Kumar acted in fewer films with actors like Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan who had begun to take the spotlight. Dilip Kumar played triple roles in Bairaag in 1976. The film flopped badly.

In his last major film, Saudagar (1991), he appeared alongside another legendary actor Raj Kumar. Dilip Kumar in 1993 was honoured with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. The actor has received many awards throughout his career, including 8 Filmfare Best Actor awards and 19 nominations. The Government of India honoured him with the Dada Saheb Phalke award in 1994 - the highest award for cinematic excellence in India.

In 1980, Dilip Kumar was appointed Sheriff of Mumbai, an honorary position. Dilip Kumar was awarded, Nishan-e-Pakistan, Pakistan's highest civilian award in the year 1997. In 1997 NTR National Award was given to the actor and he was also awarded CNN-IBN Indian of the year - Lifetime achievement award in 2009.