Debuting on screen in British India, appearing in some of Indian cinema`s greatest classics and present in the hearts of a vast multitude of fans for over eight decades, Dilip Kumar was not just Bollywood`s oldest living star but also an Indian institution. The `Tragedy King` who excelled in broad comedy too, could play a prince or a peasant, a betrayed lover or a stern patriarch or with equal ease, display profound intensity or a jaunty nonchalance with the same skill, Dilip Kumar, who passed away on Wednesday, repeatedly reinvented himself as both an actor and a person.

"Taqdeeren badal jaati hai, zamana badal jata hai, mulkon ki tareekh badal jaati hai, Shahenshah badal jaate hai, magar is badalti huyi duniya mein mohabbat jis insaan ka daman thaam leti hai, wohi insaan nahi badalta..." he said, as Prince Salim in one of his most memorable roles. And this might describe Dilip Kumar`s own long, inspiring life but not his acting.