The new book on Dilip Kumar’s first death anniversary will leave you teary-eyed

Today is the first death anniversary of Dilip Kumar, the cinematic legend, whose departure at the age of 98 plunged two nation states – India and Pakistan – into an ocean of grief. He was born in Peshawar, grew up in Deolali, worked in Pune, and became a film star in Mumbai. He has countless admirers and well-wishers in both the countries that lay claim to him, and they would be happy to know that a new book on their beloved idol has hit the market this month.

Titled Dilip Kumar: The Shadow of a Legend, it has been written by Faisal Farooqui. The author is the founder and CEO of Mouthshut.com, a leading review and rating platform in India. Farooqui’s book is best approached not as a biography of a celebrity but as an intimate portrait of a man that he loves and looks up to. I use the present tense here because Kumar is more of a presence than an absence in the author’s life. Kumar, to him, is a father figure.

Farooqui writes, “I have tried to capture the private side of the man the world worships. I’ve tried to portray his love for others, his childhood, his stubborn nature and his need to do good for the underprivileged.” While this lens might not appeal to those looking for an analysis of Kumar’s cinema, it will charm anyone who wants to know what Kumar was like off camera.

Did you know that he enjoyed not only Urdu poetry but also English crime thrillers? Farooqui reveals, “He read across genres, across languages. He was like a sponge soaking in the best of prose and poetry from around the world. He had a massive library at his place and every time I visited him, it seemed to have grown a little bigger.” Kumar was in the habit of reading local, national and international newspapers at the coffee table in his living room.

The author succeeds in communicating the fact that Kumar had a remarkable curiosity about the world beyond what was happening in his own field of work. He was interested in learning new things, filling gaps in his understanding, and keeping up with the latest technology. The chapter wherein Farooqui talks about Kumar’s initiation into Twitter and YouTube presents the actor as a man who was far from jaded even if his physical health slowed him down.

Farooqui writes, “By 2009, I had warmed Sahab up to the idea of Twitter, but he finally authorized me to create his account in December 2011.” Would you believe that the first tweet was sent out on his 89^th birthday? The author remarks, “Sahab was delighted with the tweets he received. I became his official typist. Every time he would want to share a thought, he would ask me to type it out in 140 characters. It is one of the best jobs I’ve had in my life.”

This job gave Farooqui a chance to know Kumar better. Once, a fan reached out on Twitter to ask how many languages the actor spoke. He replied, “In Peshawar, we spoke Hindko at home, and I had friends and neighbours from whom I picked up Pashto. My grandfather was a Farsi scholar, and I grew up speaking Farsi with my grandparents. Of course, we all grew up learning Urdu, as it was the popular culture.” He learnt English at his school in Deolali, and picked up Bengali from actor Ashok Kumar. Kumar added, “Growing up in cosmopolitan Bombay (later Mumbai), you have to be fluent in Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi.”

Farooqui throws light on Kumar’s close relationship with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. He builds on Lord Meghnad Desai’s book Nehru’s Hero: Dilip Kumar in the Life of India (2004). Farooqui recalls a hilarious occasion when Kumar enacted for him exactly how Nehru used to ask his daughter, Indira Gandhi, to serve him eggs and toast. Nehru used to address Kumar as Yusuf, the name that the actor was given at birth.

In addition, the book offers glimpses of Kumar’s interaction with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, another respected Prime Minister of India, around the time when the actor was honoured with the Nishan-e-Imtiaz. It is the highest civilian award given by the Government of Pakistan.

Farooqui writes, “Dilip Sahab’s acceptance of an award from Pakistan was considered disrespectful by some people in India. A group of people would shout slogans outside his home, demanding he return the award.” The actor promptly wrote to Vajpayee. Farooqui adds, “He also assured the prime minister of his love for the country, and stated that if his accepting the award was against the country’s interest, he would return the award in a heartbeat.” Vajpayee knew how to handle this situation. He appreciated Kumar’s contribution to cinema, and had no doubt about Kumar’s patriotism. He offered Kumar “the position of an emissary charged with handling backdoor diplomacy with the Pakistan government”. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s fanboy moment is recorded in Farooqui’s book.

Farooqui is of the opinion that the actor “perhaps played a role that resulted in signing of the Lahore Declaration, a bilateral agreement and governance treaty signed between Pakistan and India on 21 February 1999.” Sharif’s affection for Kumar has also been noted by Abdul Basit, who served as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India from 2014 to 2017, in a recent book titled Hostility: A Diplomat’s Diary on Pakistan-India Relations (2021). Sharif urged Basit to pay a visit to Kumar in Mumbai. Basit was touched by the hospitality he received.

While much of the book focuses on what was impressive about Kumar, it does not resort to deification. The man was 44 when he married 22-year-old actor Saira Banu. Kumar’s sisters gave their young sister-in-law a hard time. Farooqui writes, “They annoyed and emotionally hurt Saira baji. The family was obviously aware of Saira baji being unable to carry a child. One fateful day, they had found an opportunity to convince Dilip Sahab to get married again. Crumbling under his siblings’ persistence, Sahab agreed to marry Asma Sahiba.”

Apparently, the first wife was kept in the dark about what was going on. She was heartbroken when the news reached her ears. Farooqui writes, “She surrendered to the wishes of Dilip Kumar and his family. Dutifully, she continued to serve them and be the perfect wife and yet even more, a gracious bhabhi (sister-in-law) to sahab’s siblings…The fact that Dilip Kumar had married another woman didn’t hurt her as much as the fact that he had hidden it from her.”  The second marriage lasted less than two years. These years were filled with pain.

My favourite part of Farooqui’s book is about Kumar’s relationship with his faith. Farooqui has prayed with the actor several times either on the terrace of his house or on the lawns. He reconstructs the scene in vivid detail. “The entire household, including the help, used to offer prayers together. On one long mat, all the men would stand and bow (pray) in a straight line. On a mat behind the first one, Saira baji would be joined in prayers by the women of the household.” Another mat was reserved for the imam, a religious scholar leading the prayers.

No biographer would get a chance to see what Farooqui saw. This is why his book is so precious. Readers rarely get to view celebrities in this way. He writes, “Even when the namaz was over, Dilip Sahab didn’t get up. He would lift his hands, shut his eyes and pray to his Lord. He would talk to Allah. He would stay on the prayer mat for an extra 10 to 15 minutes. I remember his eyes would fill with tears and his lips would move without any sound.”

Farooqui had the privilege of accompanying Kumar and his family for the Umrah, an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. The trip was made in January 2013. The author recounts how irritated Kumar used to get when people interrupted his pilgrimage by asking for photographs and handshakes. He wanted to focus on prayer, not be a celebrity. Farooqui asked people to back off. He told them, “We have come here to perform the tawaf. Please focus on yours too. This is the house of Allah.” However, Farooqui was compelled to reconsider his approach when an old Afghan man told him, “Son, don’t stop anyone from meeting Dilip Kumar. Who knows, maybe their wish is being granted today? In Allah’s house, who are you to stop anyone?”

Dilip Kumar: The Shadow of a Legend has been published by Om Books International.

Chintan Girish Modi is a Mumbai-based journalist and book reviewer.

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