Why Dilip Kumar’s death’s different

How old is the agile Prime Minister of entire Indian government currently 70 How old was the last one at end of term 81 Whatrsquos the retirement age for an Indian bureaucrat 60 Used to be 58 until 1998 What about Supreme Court judge 65 High Court 62 The latter sometimes get accused of doling out favours for postretirement jobs Canrsquot expect them to sit idly at home either noSarkari age limits are probably based on estimates from independence when Indiarsquos average life expectancy itself was 31 years 1947 is also when actor Dilip Kumar nee Yusuf Khan 25 got his first major commercial success as actormdashstarring opposite Noor Jehan in Jugnu directedproduced by Shaukat RizviBefore this Dilip Kumar had been hired by Devika Ranirsquos Maladbased Bombay Talkies to debut in Jwar Bhata 1944 Bombay Talkies being a traditional studio rolling out multiple productions in a year meant everyone from star to spotboy would draw a corporate salary There were many suchThe studio system collapsed during WWII chiefly for hyperinflation and restriction on imports of film rawstock The starsystem replaced it Meaning an independent producer or freelance moneybag could hire talents for a filmmdashbasis a popular lead actor saying yes to it Herorsquos face on poster drew audiences in Dilip Kumar was that big face in the rsquo50s He also worked in fewer films He was his own boss and could charge a fee he thought fitDilip Kumar worked on his last movie still as lead in 1998 with Qila He was 76 By early 2000s when I saw him first in Bombay as a journalist rambling on in a speech perhaps Alzheimerrsquos setting in the audience around me was simply in a state of ecstasyawemdashlooking at a living piece of eternal nostalgia talking in suit and bootFor several decades Dilip Kumar had comfortably slipped into journalistic clicheacute of a lsquothespianrsquo not any other actor Same way superstars of rsquo50s Dilip Dev Anand Raj Kapoor like Khans Aamir Salman Shah Rukh of rsquo90s are always lsquotriumviratersquo never a trio Amitabh Bachchanrsquos voice lsquobaritonersquo Saab is similarly Gulzarrsquos last name As was DiliprsquosDilip Saab passed away on July 7 2021 Irsquove gobbled every piece that I could lay my fingers on him since Barring a sobering eulogy where fellow actor Naseeruddin Shah calls a spade a Dilip Kumar lamenting all the more the superstar couldrsquove done for cinema but didnrsquotmdashmost others seemed to me an exercise in genuine honest intellectual adulation for the man who lived rather than an instinctiveemotional outburst over a man we lostThis isnrsquot surprising If you consider that artistesstars from popculture we identify with most spiritedlyviscerally are those we grew up on teenage idols is top of the popmdashhardly those we grow old with Of course Dilip Saabrsquos greatest works survive still Yet for many writers Dilip Kumar was from a time before theirs Sure he made a comeback in the rsquo80s toomdashShakti Vidhaata Mashaal KarmaBut the stellar years he got credited with literally inventing understated calmness and confident pause on the big screenmdashand what it mustrsquove done to firsttime audiences in theatresmdashhappened in rsquo50s and rsquo60s Devdas Ganga Jamuna Madhumati Aan Kohinoor even Andaaz 1949Besides that he regretted turning down three filmsmdashDeewar 1975 being one of them Pyaasa Baiju Bawra the other two my favourite Dilip Saab story is from Mihir Bosersquos book Bollywood A History BR Chopra sacked Madhubala from the Dilip Kumar starrer Naya Daur because of her fatherrsquos interference Chopra published an ad in a filmtrade paper showing Madhubalarsquos name crossed out from Naya Daur replaced by VijyanthimalaMadhubala evidently at fatherrsquos behest in turn ran an ad showing her upcoming filmsmdashcrossing out Naya Daur from it Law suit and counter suit followed with crowds gathered outside a magistrate court in Girgaum where Dilip Saab was brought in as key witnesses in a lsquobreach of contractrsquo caseWhat did Dilip Kumar do in court that fired up the press next morning Confessed his love for Madhubala before the judge To explain breach of contract since disapproving father wouldnrsquot allow couple to shoot outdoorsThatrsquos literally a lsquoPyar kiya toh darna kiyarsquo moment from his own MughaleAzam in or well before Naya Daur Itrsquos from the mid rsquo50s when Dilip Saab wouldrsquove been in his early to mid 30sIn the years hersquod seen off British India lived during Jawaharlal Nehru as Indiarsquos PMmdashfor whom he was also a face for multiple public causesmdashdown to Narendra Modi as PM 2014 onwards Dilip Kumar remained also a poisedcharming symbol for a syncretic culture also public activism including film industry issues when occasion demandedItrsquos only when you sit through old piecesvideosencomiums from his past from peers and purported proteacutegeacutes alike SRK literally rolling down the red carpet for him at an award show you realise the beauty of the rarest long life where one neednrsquot depend on posthumous tribute to rekindle intense public admirationHe found it all throughmdashand knew how to take a compliment like greats do Maybe thatrsquos how he lived till 98 Century wouldrsquove been perfect for the cricket fanMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper