EK SHAHENSHAH KA NAA KEHNA BHI KISI KE LIYE AASHIRVAAD BAN JAATA HAI

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By Team Bollyy
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EK SHAHENSHAH KA NAA KEHNA BHI KISI KE LIYE AASHIRVAAD BAN JAATA HAI

Ali Peter John

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It is amazing how a young man who once worked as a manager in the military canteen in Poona went on to capture the hearts,minds and the imagination of an entire nation, two nations and even the world and from Mohammad Yusuf Khan, became a legend who has been one of the most striking legends of this century....

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Dilip Kumar has only done eighty-four films in his entire career when other actors of today like Jeetendra, Anupam Kher and Govinda among others take pride in doing more than five hundred films in less than forty years. It is content and quality that has mattered to him more than the money he has made or the property or the cars he has lined up in his garage. He has never shot on any foreign locations for any of his films because none of his films demanded it and the only time he went abroad in connection with his work was for the technicolour work of Mehboob Khan's "Aan ".

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Anupam Kher 6

He has never charged any of his producers more than twenty lakh of rupees and has always taken his acting fees in stalements of one and two lakhs of rupees .In fact, Subhash Ghai was bewildered when he signed him for the first time for his own first film"Saudagar "and the great Dilip Kumar asked him to pay him in small instalments of a lakh of rupees.

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He has never asked for his clothes to be designed by fancy outfitters, but has always gone for his own ordinary "master "and tailors,mostly from Bandra and the same went for his shoes. The only thing he has been very choosy and particular about is his food and if the unit he is shooting for cannot provide him and the others working with him with good food, he has made arrangements to bring food from his own house.....

What do I say about a man who was a miracle and who worked miracles in the lives of other men and women ? Let me talk about some men whose lives he changed, some big name whose names he added lustre to with just one gesture of his....

The pioneer of Indian cinema, Dr V.Shantaram was planning to make his most ambitious film, "Do Aankhen Baarah Haath "and had decided that Dilip Kumar would head the cast and play the jailor .The actor didn't reach Rajkamal Studio on the morning the shooting was to start and the very upset filmmaker decided to play the role himself and the rest is history and Dr Shantaram was an actor, thanks to Dilip Kumar.

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Guru Dutt who was discovered by Dev Anand and had made a couple of films for him was planning his own film "Pyaasa"and he too had Dilip Kumar in mind for the role of Vijay , the poet.The story goes that the tragedy king had liked the role but for reasons best known to him did not report for the shooting on the first day and Guru Dutt also like Dr Shantaram decided to play the role of Vijay himself. When "Pyaasa"and Guru Dutt both became hugely successful ,Dilip Kumar was the first among many in the industry who congratulate Guru Dutt .

Mehboob Khan had made "Andaaz"with Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Nargis and it was a big hit .Raj Kapoor who had established himself as a filmmaker wanted to cast himself with Dilip Kumar in his new film, "Sangam"but Dilip Kumar did not see enough reason to repeat the "Andaaz"team and Raj Kapoor decided to cast his friend ,Rajendra Kumar as Gopal in "Sangam "with Vyjayanthimala ,thus forming the "sangam"which has now become immortal in Hindi cinema .

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Taking about Rajendra Kumar, he seemed to have a Dilip Kumar complex and when Dilip Kumar played a dacoit in "Ganga Jamuna ",he too followed it with the role of a dacoit in his brother-in-law O.P.Ralhan's "Gehra Daag ",which was also a super hit .

Years later, Dr B.R.Chopra talked about making a film about old parents who are neglected by their children and he had only Dilip Kumar and Raakhee in mind as the elderly couple .He waited for Dilip Kumar to agree to play the role for twelve year but the actor kept him waiting and Dr Chopra got very sick and his son Ravi Chopra made
" Baaghbaan "based on this father's subject,with Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini. Dilip Kumar made his debut as a director in 1991 with "Kalinga"with himself in the title role as a retired judge. The film has still to be released .

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At around the same time, a Telegu film called "Sankarabharanam"has swept across the country. It was the unusual love story between a musical guru in his sixties and his young and beautiful desciple. The guru was played by an unknown actor called S.Y. Somayajulu and a junior artist .The actor went on to win a National Award and so did the actress in the film directed by the multiple award winning director K. Vishwanath.

The makers wanted to make it in Hindi and the first name they thought of was Dilip Kumar. They had several screenings for him, but he finally said that he couldn't do the film.Sanjeev Kumar was the next choice,on the recommendation of Dilip Kumar and the makers had to finally settled for Girish Karnad and Jayaprada. Compromise was like poison and the film ,"Sur Sargam "couldn't run even for three days, inspite of great music by Laxmikant–Pyarelal.

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Amrish Puri was always grateful to the thespian for recommending him for the best role of his career in"Virasat",Which was first offered to Dilip Kumar. The role in "DDLJ"is also said to have been written keeping Dilip Kumar in mind .

In the nineties Yash Chopra a fan of Dilip Kumar had worked on his own script of an elderly father keeping Dilip Kumar as the central character, but when Dilip Kumar was not willing ,the role went to Anupam Kher and he played the father of Rajesh Khanna and Rishi Kapoor and the husband of Hema Malini in "Vijay". Anupam also played to other roles which were to be originally played by Dilip Kumar .

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The wheel seemed to come full circle when Subhash Ghai ,a die-hard fan and admirer of Dilip Kumar who came to films because of Dilip Kumar, like Manoj Kumar and Dharmendra decided to make " Karma" which was a modern version of Dr V.Shantaram's "Do Aankhen Baarah Haath"and cast Dilip Kumar in the role he couldn't play more than sixty years ago ,with Naseeruddin Shah ,Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff among others playing the prisoners out to be reformed by Dilip Kumar.

What is that power called destiny or call it karma ?

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