EK SHAHENSHAH KI KHWABOON KI DUNIYAA

He was only a graduate (it was a normal thing to be a graduate in the late 40's , especially among the middle class and rich families ) , but he was more knowledgeable and wise than even some of his teachers and seniors - Ali Peter John

While other actors of the time spent all their time concentrating on how to increase or improve their status as stars, Dilip Kumar kept reading the best of books on literature, economics, philosophy, religion and politics .

He was a star when he was invited to participate in seminars , debates and to inaugurate departments and institutions in colleges .

His views on various subjects were appreciated even by Pandit Jawharlal Nehru , V K Krishna Menon, Barrister Rajni Patel and many other personalities from different works of life .

It was considered a delight to listen to him speak on any subject. I was once completely taken aback when I had invited him to inaugurate an association in my college when I didnt know anything or very little about him.

The function was presided over by Dr P R Brahmananda , the head of the department of Economics at the Bombay University and there were other professors and hundred of students in the hall .

Dilip Kumar was called upon to inaugurate the association and he walked up to the podium and started speaking in his own eloquent way and in immaculate English.

And for the next one hour he spoke about the subject of the day which wss Bio Economics and he kept the entire audience stunned because the audience had not expected an actor to speak about a new subject like Bio Economics.

He kept an audience of Christian priests and nuns in a trance as he spoke about the teachings of Jesus Christ and its relevance in modern times .

He went to a function on Classical Music uninvited because he wanted to listen to a lady classicsl singer , Bharti Atre and when he was requested to speak, he gave the audience one big surprise when he spoke about how classical music was losing its charm and importance in the brave new world where noise and more noise was the new music .

He was invited to inaugurate a sports meet in a faraway village in Mumbai and the audience called him a 'timepass' but when he started speaking about sports and its importance in life , the audience which was mostly villagers and illiterate people listen to him with rapt attention for more than an hour.

He was invited as the chief guest at a meeting organised by the international Lions Club and when he didn't arrive 30 minutes after the scheduled time , the 'lions ' passed all kinds of nasty remarks about him .

But when he arrived , he spoke about the problems India was facing and how the problems could be solved and the same ' lions' who called him names kept sitting silently and listening to him and then saying in one voice,"what a wrong impression we had about film stars, we never knew that actors could be such outstanding speakers and authorities on serious subjects. We must invite Dilip Kumar to more of our meetings "

These are just some of the functions snd meetings during which the legend swept the feet off audiences . There are many more .

Dilip Kumar had a view and a dream for India in which ....

There would be homes for everyone ,

There would be better roads in every village, lane and city

There would be food and water for everyone and cleanliness would be compulsory.

There would be no bribery and corruption in any field of life

Religion (dharm) would not play a part in the politics of the country .

There would be better schools , colleges and places of education which he believed was the only way to build a better India

There would be better literature for which writers and poets would be encouraged with better payments and better facilities

There would be a feeling of belonging to one family with no distinctions or differences based on caste, creed and community

And most of all , there should be love and unity among the people which should be encouraged by seniors , teachers and educational and religious heads of different religions.

KITNAA ACHHA HOTAA AGAR DILIP KUMAR DESH KE RASHTRAPATI YAA PRADHAN MANTRI BANTE . KITNAA ACHHA HOTAA AGAR UNNKE KHWAB POORE HOTE . LEKIN AISAA HO NAA SAKAA , AUR AB LAGTAA HAI KI HOGAA BHI NAHI .