Whenever Dilip Kumar arrived on the sets, the atmosphere on it would change at once. Such was his personality. Once, he reached on a grim note to shoot a tragedy narrative, and everybody present on the sets also became serious. It was like attending a funeral. Just then, someone cracked a joke and a few others laughed, and Dilip Kumar saw it. That was it. The actor declared he couldn`t do justice to the tragic scene in such a jovial environment, cancelled the shoot, and returned home. This is an incident recorded in veteran Bollywood media person Jivraj Burman`s private notes. Here are some more gleanings from the journalist`s diary:

1. Once, during a single shot of hurling a glass of liquor in anger, Dilip Kumar insisted on 27 retakes before he was satisfied that it was `perfect`.