YUSUF KHAN (DILIP KUMAR) AND THE PAKISTAN CONNECT...

Ali Peter John

The partition may have made a big difference to India and Pakistan and to many people on both sides, but it couldn't and still can't make a difference to the Shahenshah of acting, Yusuf Khan, better known as Dilip Kumar. He had his admirers and friends before the partition and still has them...

I had my first experience of knowing how much the people of Pakistan loved him. It was in 1973,two years after the Indo-Pak war of 1971 which split Pakistan into two countries, Pakistan and Bangladesh.A group of students from Karachi had come to Bombay and like it has happened with me several times, I was put in charge of them and asked to take them around the city. I asked them what they would like to see first and they all shouted in one voice, "Dilip Kumar ,Dilip Kumar ".I had only known about Dilip Kumar and where he lived, a place shown to me by my mother . I told the students that it would be difficult, but I would try. I found the number of Dilip Kumar's house and called and it was the great man himself on the phone. I was nervous but I couldn't show it to the students as I was their guide. I told Dilip Kumar that there were some students from Pakistan and they wanted to see him and it was their first priority in Bombay. I was taken aback when he said, "lekar aao ghar pe, chaar baje". I was surprised at how he could give me an answer like that without knowing me at all. It was the first time I had entered the bungalow of Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu and little did I know that it was going to be the first of my many, many visits to the bungalow.The Shahenshah talked to the students like friends for an hour and exchanged views on various subjects and the students kept looking at him in disbelief. They had never expected to have a meeting like this .For the rest of the evening, they only talked about Dilip Kumar, how he looked, how he talked and how humble he was. They saw many other places and met many other people, but it was only Dilip Kumar on their minds till the end of their visit to Bombay...

A poet from Pakistan had come to Bombay and he had only one ambition and that was to meet Dilip Kumar. I was working in "Screen "those days and I don't know how that poet landed in my office, looking for me .He said he had been walking around the city looking for Dilip Kumar and had not eaten for three days. I called Saira ji who had started knowing me because of her friendship with my editor. I told her about the poet and she asked me to bring him with me to have tea with "Saahab".

The poet started crying when we entered the gate of the bungalow and started howling when he saw Dilip Kumar standing at the entrance of the bungalow waiting to welcome him which was something the poet could just not believe .Dilip Kumar led him in and the poet sat on the floor and Dilip Kumar immediately held him by his shoulders and told him, "Shaayar ki jagh zameen per nahi hotee, shaayar toh raja hota hai,uski jagh ya toh dil mein hotee hai ya koi takht per hotee hai "and made him sit on a sofa next to him. I had told Saira ji about his not having eaten for days and the result was some of the best snacks and the best tea served to him, but the poet was more intrested in seeing and listening to the Shahenshah than in eating. The thespian who was a lover of Urdu poetry and had some of the greatest poets as his guests to whom he served the best of liquor and food and even presented them with gifts, asked the poet to recite some of his poetry. The poet was trembling but finally found his voice and the courage to make the thespian listen to his poetry .Dilip Kumar listen to him without a pause and when he finished, he gave him his thoughts on what was wrong with his poetry and what he should do to improve it .The poet could not control his tears when Dilip Kumar walked with him till the gate to see him off and presented him with a bouquet of roses and an envelope in which I was sure there was some money which knowing the thespian's generosity I knew would have been a substantial amount. The poet tried to touch my feet at the restaurant where we stopped to have some tea,but I had to shrug him off softly as I had not seen anything like this happen to me...

Dilip Kumar was to receive the "Nishan-e-Pakistan" the highest civilian award given by the Government of Pakistan and he was the first Indian to receive it. A group of Pakistani writers and journalists came to his house to congratulate him.Like the poet, they too kept looking at him as if they had seen an alien and he said, "main bhi tumhare jaise ek insaan hoon, mujhe aise kyun dekh rahe ho jaise mein zoo mein koi kabooter ya janwar hoon ?"That one line changed the atmosphere and they talked for the next two hours which ended in high tea which was again marked out by the Dilip Kumar hospitality .The award was criticized by the Shiv Sena and there were ugly protests outside his bungalow and Dilip Kumar had to call Bal Thackeray who he knew as a junior cartoonist working for the Free Press Journal on a salary of hundred and fifty rupees a month, to ask his followers to protest but do it in a dignified way like civilized human beings and the protest was called off.There were celebrations in Pakistan to mark his winning the highest in the award....

The popular Sufi singer Sheeba was on a visit to Bombay for the first time and she too wanted to see "Dilip Saahab".He organized a grand dinner in her honour at the bungalow. The cream of the city was there that night and I was again taken by surprise when he asked me to receive the singer and her team. I asked him what I would tell her if they asked me who I was and he said, "tumko bolna padega kya ki tum hamare kaun ho. Bolna tum mere bhai ho".I told them just what he had asked me to tell them and they all looked at me as if I was related to God. That night the party lasted till three in the morning with the singer singing her heart out .I was leaving when he stopped me and asked me, "kahaan jaate ho, kaise jaaoge ?"and before I could answer, he stopped a car and lovingly put me in and said, "ghar pahunchne ke baad mujhe phone karna, thank you "

In Pakistan people are still worried about his health and make inquiries every day and there are people who still want to see him and how can I tell them that I myself have not seen him for more than two years ?