PESHAWAR, Dec 11: Exactly 80 years ago, the guru of Indian films, Yousaf Khan (Dilip Kumar), was born in the home of a fruit merchant, Ghulam Sarwar, in Dooma Gali, Mohalla Khudadad, on Dec 11, 1922.

At that time, nobody knew that this newborn child would one day reach the peak of the subcontinental filmdom. It was in 1938 that he, along with his family, decided to move to Bombay in search of green pastures, because his father was facing deep financial constraints and could not afford staying here anymore.

The luck favoured him, as he was spotted by the established filmmaker Devka Rani, whose name was considered a success symbol in the field. Following that there was no looking back for Yousaf Khan who changed his nomenclature to Dilip Kumar.

Hailing from a highly religious family, his father looked down upon his sojourn to the film industry. But later events demonstrated it abundantly that the talented young man became the dazzling star of the sprawling industry.

The naturally gifted star soon became a known entity of the movies. Most of the roles he played, ended in his death at the end of many movies in which he performed, and he was rightly called the King of Tragedy. Both as hero and as comedian, he performed brilliantly and was appreciated by the cine-goers.

Another of his quality, besides being best performer, was that he preferred quality over quantity which is evident from the fact that he performed in only 60 films in as many years in the industry.

Dilip’s movies for which he would be long remembered are: Deedar, Dagh, Devdas, Andaz, Aan, Naya Daur, Dil Diya Dard Liya, Kohinoor, Paigham, Aadmi, Mughal-i-Azam, Ganga Jamna, Shakti, Ram Aur Shiyam, Babul, Halchal, Insaniat, Sageena, Gopi, Leader, Amar, Sangdil, Uran Khatola and Karma.

It is due to his spell-binding performances that he had been a role model for the young and up-and-coming stars both in Pakistan and Indian film industry. Only recently, Amitabachan applauded the services of Dilip Kumar when he said that there was no match to him and that nobody could surpass him.

Like his Indian fans, his Pakistani fans also pay rich tributes to Dilip Kumar on his 80th birth anniversary and pray for his long life.