Bollywood legend Dilip Kumar passed away at the age of 98 in Mumbai’s Hinduja Hospital.
He was taken to the hospital last Wednesday after he complained of breathlessness – it was the second time that he had been hospitalised in the same month. The funeral will be held at 5 pm today.
“He passed away due to prolonged illness at 7.30 am,” said Dr Jalil Parkar, who had been treating Dilip Kumar.
Doctors said Dilip Kumar suffered from advanced prostate cancer that had spread to other organs of his body. “He had water in pleural cavity, and he suffered a kidney failure. He required blood transfusion multiple times. We carried the last transfusion but it did not help,” a hospital doctor said.
Tributes to the late icon flooded social media; President Ram Nath Kovind tweeted: “Dilip Kumar summarised in himself a history of emerging India. The thespian’s charm transcended all boundaries, and he was loved across the subcontinent. With his demise, an era ends. Dilip Saab will live forever in the heart of India. Condolences to family and countless fans.”
Taking to Twitter, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren termed it the ‘end of an era’ for Hindi Cinema.
Regarded as one of the greatest actors that India has ever seen, his career spanned over five iconic decades.
One of 12 children, Dilip saab was born as Yusuf Khan in Peshawar (now in Pakistan) on December 11, 1922, to Lala Ghulam Sarwar, a fruit merchant, and Ayesha Begum. The Sarwar family owned orchards in Peshawar and Deolali (Nasik), and so Yusuf’s schooling happened at Barnes School in Deolali.
He debuted in films with 1944’s Jwar Bhata, but the film and his work did not garner much attention. It was with 1947’s Jugnu, also starring Noor Jehan, that he clinched his first box office hit.
He was the first actor to win the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in 1954, and won it a total of 8 times. He and Shah Rukh Khan jointly hold the record for most Filmfare trophies.
Dilip Kumar is listed in the Guinness World Records for winning the maximum number of awards by an Indian actor. He is also credited as the first method actor in India. He was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994 and Padma Vibhushan in 2015.
Dilip Kumar was last seen in the 1998 film Qila. Some of his best known films are Devdas, Mughal-e-Azam, Gunga Jamuna, Ram Aur Shyam, Naya Daur, Madhumati, Kranti, Vidhaata, Shakti and Mashaal, to name just a few.
