The First Original Megastar Of Indian Cinema : Dilip Kumar
Dilip Kumar is known as institution of acting as well as first method actor of Indian Cinema. He his also called the 'Demi God ' of bollywood. In truest sense he is the first geniune megastar of bollywood. Almost all actors have copied him from Rajendra to Amitabh to Shahrukh and many more.
Dilip Kumar was born into a Pashtun family of 12 children. He moved to Bombay and began working in a British army canteen, where he was noticed by Devika Rani, the biggest leading lady of that time and her husband, Himanshu Rai, who hired him to act for the Bombay Talkies, a film company they owned. Dilip Kumar real name is 'Yusuf Khan' but he changed his name by the recommendations of Devika Rani. He also said in a interview of 1970 that he changed his name due to fear of thrashing from his father . Dilip Kumar mentioned his father never liked acting and called it 'Nautanki'.
Dilip Kuma made his acting debut with the film Jwar bhata (1944), which did hit business in Bombay territory but it barely managed to scrape out outside Bombay and it was just an average success . It was followed by Pratima which went unnoticed.
But the breakthrough role was yet to come and it come in 1947 and his first breakthrough role was with 'Milan' which was a hit at the box office.The film shot Dilip Kumar to fame. The very same year 'Jugnu' which did record breaking business in Delhi, U.P., Calcutta, Cawnapore and Bombay made him very popular star and one of the sellable star of that era. Jugnu turned out to the biggest blockbuster hit of 1947.
Though Film India criticised Jugnu and called it vulgar film and also called Dilip Kumar as a bad actor and makers had to cut some 30 minutes from the film and the rest as they say is history!
The next releases after Jugnu phenomenal success in 1948 : Anokha Pyar was a flop while Nadiya Ke Paar was a big hit, Mela had bigger business than any film till then for the first ten weeks and it was declared a mega hit at the box office. Shaheed which released in August 1948 did historic business in North and other important centres and was declared blockbuster hit at the box office. With the super success of these films Thespian Dilip Kumar entered the Top 3 and reached to the new heights of the popularity.
Dilip Kumar performance in Shaheed was very well received from critics as well.
1949 started with Ghar Ki Izzat which was a moderate hit and also it was the last successful film of Mumtaz Shanti. Andaz in which he co-starred with Raj Kapoor for the first and last time was the biggest grosser of all time by beating the legendary all time blockbuster Kismet at the box-office. Dilip Kumar's performance in Andaz was appreciated very much and with this film he become the heartthrob of millions and trillions and The success of this film capitulated him to new heights of mega stardom and dethroned Ashok Kumar from no. 1 position. His another release in 1949, Shabnam too was a big hit.
1950-1952 In this period Thespian Dilip Kumar played variety of roles and established himself as the greatest actor of that era.
1950 started with a bang with Arzoo which was declared hit at the box office. Jogan which was thespian fourth film with Nargis after blockbusters like Mela and Andaz and it was declared a big hit at the box office. His last release of 1950 was Babul, which did mega business in cities. It is still doubtful about Babul and Samadhi that which was biggest hit of that year. While Samadhi did better than Babul in North and Babul did better than Samadhi in cities.
As the popular newspaper of that era quote while reviewing Arzoo 'Dilip Kumar proves what a fine dramatic actor he can be, given half the chance, in the sombre "Arzoo" which has been drawing huge crowds at the Excelsior, New West End and Jai Hind. He has a role that makes the utmost demands on him, and he comes through with flying colours. Cast as an ardent lover whose passion changes to bitter hatred under the impact of jealousy, he plays with fervour oppo- site Kamini Kaushal, who, somehow, never quite rises to the occasion."
In Deedar he starred with another superstar of that era Ashok Kumar. It was second biggest blockbuster hit of 1951 behind Awara. The music was very popular which gave it uplift and the performance of both main lead heroes Dilip Kumar and Ashok Kumar was very appreciated in the film. Tarana in which he acted with Madhubala was a hit at the box office though his another starrer Hulchul barely managed to scrape out.
His first release of 1952 Daag was biggest hit of the first half of 1952 as well as first true superhit of 1952 as 1952 faced lean patch at the box office.
Thespian next release 'Aan' was the highest-grossing Indian film ever at the time, domestically and overseas as well. Aan was the first Indian film to have a worldwide release in many countries, subtitled in 17 languages and released in 28 countries, including the United Kingdom,United States, France, and Japan.The film also received critical acclaim in the British press at the time. In South India, it was also dubbed and released in Tamil as Murattu Adiyaal. Also Aan was first technicolor Indian film. The unprecedented blockbuster success of this made Dilip Kumar the most popular star ever , no star ever has seen type of popularity then. Aan grossed 40 Lakhs in the first month and it was record. No film then has recorded such a phenomenal collections.
1953-1954 wasn't that good for the Megastar as Footpath, Shikast and Amar didn't do that well considering the expectations though all these three films were not flops as well. All recovered their cost successfully but Footpath faired best among this films.Their was a survey done by a magazine in 1954 by the people of industry and distributors in which Dilip Kumar won the popularity contest and according to distributors, There was nobody in that era who had extraordinary popularity like Dilip Kumar. He was the only star in that era who guaranteed bumper initial for a film. His name was enough to draw crowd at the ticket window. Black marketers used to raise the film price whenever Dilip Kumar films used to release.
As 'Film India' in 1954 rightly said Never was a film superstar so popular as Dilip has been'.
At one time out of ten highest grossing film till 1954,five were belonging to Dilip Kumar and they were 'Aan','Andaz', 'Deedar', 'Shaheed' and 'Jugnu'. Such was his domination in that era.
1955 was a extraordinary year for thespian megastar as his Azaad become the biggest grosser of all-time by breaking his own record of 'Aan'. Uran Khatola too was declared a blockbuster hit. Insaniyat in which he co-starred with another superstar Dev Anand was the costliest film of that era and the film was a hit .It did fabulous business but couldn't emerge a superhit Or blockbuster due to it's high cost.. Dilip Kumar's role was tailor made and he completely nailed it with full perfection. Devdas which released in the end of 1955 gave him the title of 'King Of Tragedy' and the film was a bonafide hit at the box office.
By the time he had become an institution of Acting and legend of film industry.
1957-1961 Absolutely golden period for Superstar Dilip Kumar as he emerged the undisputed no. 1 to no. 10 box office superstar of industry with back to back blockbusters in a row and the thespian was breaking his own records.
1957 started with critical acclaimed Musafir and at the mid of 1957 Dilip Kumar's career picked up to such a new heights with Naya Daur, which was the biggest grosser of all-time then. It broked all the previous record and the film was second only to Mother India in 50s decade. In terms of inflation many of Dilip Kumar's films like 'Andaz', 'Aan', 'Naya Daur' and many others after that would definitely stood in top 20 biggest hit of all-time in today tickets rates.
Yahudi was a hit, Madhumati was the biggest blockbuster hit of 1958 as well as next only to Mother India and Naya Daur in terms of collections. Madhumati become third hit in a row for famous pair of Dilip Kumar-Vjyanatimala after blockbuster Naya Daur and hit Devdas.
The mega success of Naya Daur-Yahudi-Madhumati continued with Paigham which was a big hit at the box office and next only to Anari in 1959. If we talk about his hits and flop since ratio since 1947 then so far only Anokha Pyar, Hulchul,Shikast, Musafir and Amar have underperformed though only Musafir and Anokha Pyar were geniune flops.
Thespian took a break of 5 hiatous years and was back with a bang with Kranti in which he played the title role of Kranti . It become the biggest box office success of 1981. The film was costliest film of that era and It crossed Sholay initial business as well but Sholay had re runs in 1982-1983 so Sholay went ahead. Dilip Kumar was paid Rs 35 Lakhs for Kranti which was unheard amount then and even top stars of that era Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan were also not charging that much. In terms of business Kranti was next only to Maine Pyar Kiya in entire 80s decade
Kranti was followed by another smashing blockbuster Vidhaata which was the biggest box office success of 1982 and Shakti which was moderate success in. Dilip Kumar co starred with Amitabh Bachchan for the first time in Shakti. It was mainly noticed for the super performance from the both leading men. As the matter of fact Vidhaata was among top five biggest box office blockbuster of 80s decade.
With the success of these films he was held as Amitabh Bachchan's great competitor in first half of 80s.
Hit and flops continue with Mashaal, Mazdoor and Duniya being the flops and Karma being the biggest blockbuster hit of 1986 and Dharam Adhikari and Kanoon Apna Apna being moderate successes at the box office.
In 1990s Superstar Dilip Kumar appeared in 3 films in which Izzatdaar was a moderate success and appeared with talented Govinda for the first time.Saudagar in which he starred with Rajkumaar after 30 years was second biggest grosser of 1991 behind Saajan and Qila which was the last film of Thespian was an utter flop. Though not even Dilip Kumar fans want to remember Qila as it such a miserable project as well as huge flop.
In terms success ratio and historical blockbusters nobody come close to the level of Superstar Dilip Kumar. So far, He has achieved all the box office records. According to me, He is the most successful superstar of all-time by every account be it Blockbusters, HGOTYS, Success ratio and other factors as well.
Also Dilip Kumar was the first actor who received filmfare award for his act in Superhit Daag 1952
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