BOOK –
REVIEW
'THE SUBSTANCE
AND THE SHADOW'
DILIP KUMAR'S
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
'Daag' was
the first film of Dilip kumar (Yusuf
Khan) which I had seen in the seventies
and the 'substance' of what
'Acting' should be was known after
watching his performance of a loser and
a drunken. He won the first Filmfare
award for the film. Later I saw 'Ram Aur
Shyam' with my parents and his talent for comedy and romance was revealed. 'Devdas' made me understand the concept
of 'underplay' . Later I could
appreciate the performance of Al Pachino
in 'Godfather II' and Nasseruddin Shah's in 'Sparsh'
and 'Paar' based on the reference of
'Devdas'.It is another matter that when I started watching films in big way his
career had peaked and he was to emerge
as a leading actor in 'Vidhata'
later, after having starred in moderately successful 'Mashal', 'Mazdoor', 'Gopi', 'Bairaag' and 'Daastan'. As a movie
buff I was aware of some of the facts of Dilip Kumar's career however after reading the book some were
confirmed and some clarified, but certain aspects of his life as recalled by
him were indeed a surprise. Moreover, though many may find it uninteresting but what his colleagues,
friends, associates and family members had to say about him was very revealing
and refreshing in many cases, but I shall come to that later.
I had read his
Biography earlier which was not exhaustive
therefore this account by the 'Thespian' himself is indeed quite
informative and gives sufficient material for analysis and pondering of the
time when Hindi cinema was reaching its youth and bloom. From the book we get
an idea of his upbringing in Peshawar which was in NWFP, a part of United
India. He was raised in a closed environment in a large joint family where his
Amma (Mother)was always seen by him at work in the kitchen engaged in
preparation of one meal after another and bearing babies at regular intervals;
they were finally twelve of them, six brothers and six sisters. Her responsibilities never ceased even on the
family's arrival in Bombay as Yusuf thought and desired , though she was out of
the reach of her domineering Mother-in –law. He was close to her ,following her wherever she
went as child and remembers her petite figure and soft spokenness which he
imbibed in much measure .The extreme climate of Peshawar was difficult and it made him tough. His
father Sarawar Khan was a prosperous dry and fresh fruit merchant and they had their own orchard where he
wondered in the summer afternoons all alone.
A Fakir on seeing his face
when he was a child predicted great future for him , but also warned the
parents to save him from the 'evil eye'!
Therefore his protective Grand mother would smear his forehead with black powder, which made him look ugly and his
class mates made fun of him and he 'withdrew'
and looked forward for the school to end and return home to the cozy company of
his large family. At home the family often got together near the fire place or
on the roof top and entertainment by way of story telling and reciting of
Persian and Urdu poetry was encouraged. Yusuf also learnt English at school and
had a flair for languages which he discovered in later years when he reached
out to the world!
The Second world
war was looming and there were uncertainties regarding the Dry fruit business of his father and
therefore he had to make frequent trips to Bombay which kept him away from his
family. One evening when Sarawar Khan was taking a walk near Gateway of India
he saw a bubbly child in a pram with his parents , seeing the child made him
remind of Yusuf and he took the child in his arms not knowing the reaction of
his parents who could not understand the emotions of a tall bearded Pathan.
Back home when Sarawar Khan narrated the incident to his father he advised him to shift to Bombay with
his family. And so; one day the entire family consisting of his parents two older brothers and one elder sister Sakina embarked the Frontier mail for the city
of opportunity and dreams! On arrival they occupied the top floor of a building
near Crawford market from where his father operated his business.
At Bombay he took
admission at Anjuman college near Matunga
and then at Khalsa college where he
met Raj Kapoor whom he knew from his
Peshawar days. The families were close to each other and once when Prithvi Raj Kapoor( father of Raj Kapoor) visited Sarawar Khan's
home there was a flutter among the ladies and his handsome looks were discussed
for some days . Raj's Grand father was a senior officer in the police in
Peshawar and was a friend of Yusuf's father. In between the family shifted to
Deolali in order nurse his older brother Ayub(
Yusuf was close to him and admired his literary taste) who was suffering from
an ailment which confined him at home , young Yusuf studied in an English
medium school and loved the open space of Deolali which later he used as
location to shoot his famous film 'Ganga-Jamuna'.
Dilip was a good student in his college and his father had expectations from
him; he desired him to be a high level Government officer or a Lawyer or even a Doctor and do well so as to be honoured with the O B E ( Order of the British Empire) .
He also played football and cricket and was a good athlete too. Later he played
badminton regularly. Sometimes Raj would join him in play and was the referee
in football , unlike Dilip he was an extrovert and was found in the company of
girls ,often. He would encourage Dilip to befriend girls and even introduced
him once but Dilip could not utter a word! Perhaps this shy nature was
attributed to his childhood experience in school. He wanted to be a football player and would practice regularly at the 'Home Guard 'ground near 'dhobi talao' near Metro cinema to better his skills. In
addition to honing his Persian/Urdu he
constantly enriched his English language skills ,maybe he knew that English was
important for social mobility! He could speak Pushtu, Bengali and later even
Tamil and French!
An interesting
episode of his young days shows his confidence and personality. It was some
misunderstanding with his father which upset him and he decided to leave home
for livelihood, he had just a handful of notes in his pocked as he boarded the
train to Pune. On arrival he
impressed the owner of an 'Irani Restaurant'
by speaking to him in 'Persian' who
helped him to get a job in the Army canteen. He worked for some months and
earned extra money by providing sandwiches in the evening at the club. He
returned home after few months and quietly handed over his earnings in the
hands of his mother who missed him all this time ; it was Ramzan period and
with the arrival of Eid even his father forgave him.
His entry into
films is also a Dramatic and unusual story. He happened to visit Devika Rani the co- owner of 'Bombay Talkies' along with his Doctor
friend whom he met at the Church gate railway station, the friend was appointed
to meet Devika Rani and persuaded Dilip to accompany him. Devika Rani served
them Tea in her usual style and kept on looking at Dilip intently. During the
conversation the Doctor stated that his friend was in search of a job. After a
while she stated that if Dilip wanted
she could give him an Actor's job at
'Bombay Talkies' ! Dilip was taken a back as he was not interested in films and
till then had seen only one film. When he
expressed surprise at the proposal Devika Rani authenticated her intent
by conveying that she shall pay him Rs 1250/- for his services and that she
could see potential of a 'Big Star'
in him. The offer mystified him as it
was a princely sum at that time . Well; they soon took leave of her and asked
for some time to mull over the matter. Back home Dilip revealed his meeting and
the offer to his sister who could not believe it as at that time Raj too was
working in 'Bombay Talkies' and was paid only Rs 250/- a month. Therefore it
was assumed that when son of Prithvi Raj was drawing Rs 250/- how was it
possible for a non entity to earn such a high sum? And so; they concluded that
the offer would be for a year's salary and not per month pay. In order to
resolve the anxiety it was decided to telephone Devika and seek confirmation
from her which was done and indeed the
offer was for a month's pay; and thus began
the cinematic journey of the legendary Dilip Kumar!
At 'Bombay
Talkies' he was influenced by the association with Ashok Kumar ( The reigning star of that
period) and his brother in law S Mukherjee who were the co owners. He learnt
that they were accomplished film makers and monitored each department but never
took credit for the same.The two stalwarts were also impressed with Yusuf's
fluency with Urdu and sought his help in understanding the nuances of the
dialogues being written in the company, which he readily provided. When
the time approached for him to commence his acting career it was advised by Devika to adopt a screen
name which was recognizable and remember able, he was given example of Ashok
Kumar whose actual name was a tongue twister. Therefore Yousuf gave birth to
Dilip Kumar which soon was a house hold name. His first big hit was 'Jugnu',his third film and when the
posters of the film were put near Crawford market Raj Kapoor's grandfather
Bisheswar Nath took his friend Sarawar
Khan and asked him to recognize the person in the poster and when Sarawar Khan expressed his amazement he
revealed to him that his son was now a big actor and also said that acting was
not such a bad profession as he thought it to be ,which pacified him to some
extent . Soon thereafter the ice melted between the father and son and though
his dream to see Dilip as a big officer was over he accepted his new role! The
circumstances turned in such a way that soon his father was dependent on him as
he was growing old , Dilip bought a bungalow at Pali hill and the family shifted there.
There were some
important influences in his cinematic life after the initial training under
Devika rani, Ashok Kumar and S Mukherjee. Mehboob
Khan was a big influence and he acted in many of his films- Andaz, Aan,
Amar. Bimal Roy he greatly admired
and did Devdas, Madhumati and Yahudi with him. Later as his influence rose and producers were at his command he started
taking interest in the complete film making- story, screenplay, casting set
design etc.He ghost directed many films- Ganga Jamuna, Dil diya dard liya, Leader, Aadmi, Bairaag, Gopi, Ram aur Shyam. Even
when the director was worthy he made sure that the screenplay was to his
requirement. Therefore he was involved in the screenplay of 'Naya daur' which was directed by B R
chopra and 'Shakti' by Ramesh sippy.
The person who
influenced him in Socio-political life was Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru the first Prime Minister of India, who first requested him
to campaign for his candidate Krishna Menon
in the famous 1962 by election from
Bombay. He was pitted against the combined opposition candidate Kriplani and the election was a sort of
referendum of Nehru's policies. Dilip actively participated and delivered many impressive speeches ,
Menon won by a lakh votes. Thereafter he was sought in all elections by the Congress.
Rajni Patel the famous Bombay
Barrister was his friend and like him never hankered after public office. He
was Sheriff of Bombay and was
instrumental in the creation of the 'Nehru
centre'; a central place for science and culture activities. He did many
charitable acts among them was his support for the blind, for ten years he
undertook a once a year
Rail journey to Pune from Bombay
and interacted with the passengers who paid the enhanced rate to meet Dilip and
the money would go for the welfare of the blind.
Coming from a
conservative home and the childhood trauma which made him an introvert he used
his background in playing subtle roles which were his hallmark. He tutored
himself to learn good English and used his language skills to attain social mobility. His love of English
literature and other languages was perhaps a successful attempt to compensate for his introvert , conservative background. Dilip and
his siblings were 12 in number, 6 brothers and six sisters. He helped and
provided education to many of his sisters and brothers but they could not come
up to his expectations. There was respect for his father but deep love and
concern for his mother who was a strong
lady and suffered from Asthama to which she finally succumbed . He had some
satisfaction that he could provide some comfort to his mother at his Pali hill bungalow . He was very attached to
her and inherited her soft speech which was his distinctness.
He talks of his
love interests briefly. The first lead lady was Kamini Kaushal who was well
read and spoken , owing to their different religion and pressure from her
family they had to part ways, 'Shahid'
was their big hit together. Madhubala's beauty and vivaciousness influenced him
but her father saw a business proposition in their marriage and Dilip did not
appreciate it, perhaps he was hurt with her flirtatious ways though he never
mentions in so many words but the relationship ended on a bitter note and they
were not even on talking terms during the making and the famous love scences of 'Mughal-e-Azam'. He married Saira late in
life, after Saira persuaded him for a long time ; and as we know there was a
huge age difference between them. What was the reason of late marriage is not
known , perhaps family responsibilities! Despite his large family he seemed to
be a lonely man . He gave his large
bungalow to his family and lived in the out house. Saira suffered owing to lack
of space but bravely adjusted , her health suffered. Dilip preferred to stay
away from Bombay and so shot some of his films in Chennai where he found time with his wife and peace from his
family members . He mentions that he liked Chennai and intended to settle there
, he also had a cottage at juhu
where he worked on his scripts.
He talks of his
colleagues and the foremost was Raj . He clarifies that the supposed rivalry
etc was never there and he loved his childhood friend. He missed him in later
years. Their friendship is evident from
the fact that Raj played the leading role during his marriage ceremony .Pran was his another friend and both
loved to cook during their outdoors. He had good relationship with Naushad too, though he was opposed to
his marriage to Saira on the ground of the age
gap between the two and did not attend
the ceremony. He does mention the sad episode of his second marriage to Asma and divorce fleetingly , one wished he could
have given a more detailed account. Did he marry her in order to have a child?
He does talk of not having children and Saira's failed pregnancy and seemed to
have accepted the dictates of destiny. He is also silent about the level to
which he studied; was he a Graduate? What compelled him to leave studies? I
wished he could have talked more of Partition
and its impact on his family which he merely mentions in few sentences that
the family decided to settle in India.
Among the many
things on which Dilip commented and narrated in his book what stand out are the
following words which sum up his philosophy toward his work:
"
I never overtold or oversold myself"
He preserved himself
so that the people craved for him . He 'underplayed 'and therefore never
'overtold'. He acted in few movies and therefore never 'oversold'. He was
unlike the stars of today who are in so
many advertisements and news items and seem that they cannot live without
attention, in the process they overexpose themselves .
The book has in its
last part views , comments and opinions of his colleagues, friends and family
members and some of them are worthy of mention here. Salim Khan , the famous script writer calls him "Secular India's Secular Actor" . Jaya Bachhan says that whilst watching him act
one should note how he 'reacts' to
the other actor rather than when he acts. Sharmila Tagore says very aptly, " Actors like Motilal and Ashok Kumar
had already began weeding out the theatrical element from the film acting, by
the late 1940s but it was with Dilip Kumar that it became a norm" .
The book it seems was pushed by
Saira but the stamp of Dilip is discernable in its narration ,specially of his
childhood and early years. He discovered himself in Bombay, his ability to
speak numerous languages was his forte and he invested generously toward
Secular India, which made him Dilip Kumar from Yousuf
Khan.
