Now Just the memories of THE SHAHENSHAH are left here

This land, this place, this spot on Pali Hill in Mumbai…
It was not just another piece of land, a place, or a plot
This was a marked place, a blessed place, a favorite place of the Creator of this earth and all things created for the good of man  - ALI PETER JOHN

This land, this place, this plot was chosen by the Creator for one of His greatest creations

This was to be the place where Mohammad Yusuf Sarwar Khan, better known as Dilip Kumar, Dilip Kumar, and the Shahenshah of all Shahenshahs would build his mahal, his palace, his home

This was the place the Shahenshah was led to by that invisible power when he looked for a place to build his dream house, the home of a man who was a part of millions of dreams

This was the place where Shahenshah Mohammad Yusuf Khan stood and supervised the laying of every brick

This was the place that was blissfully unaware that it was going to be a landmark, a milestone, a place of pilgrimage

This was the place where people gathered to see what palace, what mahal their Shahenshah was building

This was the place where people thronged to see every movement of every man working to build the Shahenshah’s mahal

This was the place his admirers looked at even as it was been built…

The Shahenshah’s mahal was completed; the Shahenshah took his place on his throne

It was the day when the mahal the Shahenshah built became a house where magic and miracles were worked by one man

The mahal was the celebrated place where people flocked every day, every evening, and even all through the night

You just had to say Dilip Kumar’s bungalow and everyone knew where it was and those who didn’t know anything

This was the mahal where the Shahenshah dreamt his best dreams and planned how to give shape to them

This was the mahal where poets, writers, painters, musicians, and filmmakers were invited by the Shahenshah every evening to exchange ideas with the Shahenshah, to make him listen to their poetry and music, look at their paintings and listen to their thoughts

His applause, his admiration, his wah-wahs gave them all a new life to create greater wonders.

This was the mahal where some of his best films first took birth after he said yes to them after days of thinking and rethinking

This was the mahal people from all over, all the different parts of the world came to everyday

They came only to have a glimpse of the Shahenshah of all Shahenshahs 

Some of his admirers broke barriers between India and Pakistan at great risk to their lives to look at him one and even kiss the gates of his mahal

This was the mahal where people came to claim the Shahenshah as their own…

Now, look at what time and the wild minds of men only interested in making money and building graves (kabrs) have done

They have destroyed the Shahenshah’s mahal and turned it to a grave which they will fill with their dirty ambitions

This mahal should have been preserved as a treasure house, a heritage place, a center to be to be remembered all the time, till the end of time

But what can I say about this great country and its people? 

They all just talk about all kinds of feelings and then fling them out of their dirty-minded windows 

The Shahenshah’s mahal has gone to give way to the devilish dreams and desires of a modern-day man who is more machine than man

The heart bleeds every time I see a brick that tells a hundred stories being brought down ruthlessly

Uff yeh yaadein,yeh tanhaiyaan,yeh kaali raatein aur yeh bematlab din