Blast from the Past: The Terrible Truths about the Thespian Dilip Kumar
Check out this 1982 Stardust article about Dilip Kumar.
Even
though the whole country was disillusioned, seething with fury and
utterly disgusted when their darling Dilip Kumar deceived them about his
second marriage, it wasn't long before people forgave, forgot and
started making excuses for their idol. Within a couple of months, Dilip
Kumar was back on his pedestal. The public had literally grown up
believing in his legend, fans had lived with stories of his greatness
for too long to accept his feet of clay because of just one mistake.
Now however, it's come to light that Asma was not the legend's first
mistake. It was only the first to be exposed! The expose, however
belated, seems to have aroused the other wronged parties' who have kept
quiet about their suffering all these years, out of fear for themselves
and their families. Today, there's no end to the stories shattering the
white-washed faade, no restraint in the explosion of the myth of the
ex-Sheriff, the actor nonpareil, the perfect family man, the legendary
lover, the Godfather of the industry. One (exposed) slip-up has cost the
fallen angel his thirty-year-old image!
So far, the only well-known negative aspect of this Marlon Brando of
the Indian screen was that he had the habit of interfering with his
scripts, directing his directors and delaying his films. Any filmmaker
who signed Dilip Kumar, did so after knowing what to expect from the
screen God. Those who resented his encroaching, never worked with him.
But it hasn't been such simple and straight dealing always. Very few
people are aware that the thespian has time and again deliberately
cheated his producers, ruined his directors and put film families out of
action for years, even at times, forever...
Manmohan Desai and his family of filmmakers were one of Dilip Kumar's
first victims. It is said that M.D's father was one of the industry's
richest producers in his time. In fact, he had so much money, that he
used to get his wardrobe specially flown in from the most expensive
boutique in Paris! But, he made one mistake - he signed Dilip Kumar for
one of his films and with it, he lost everything he had achieved and
amassed in life. "That film never got made," his son Manmohan Desai
recalled sadly. "My father almost became a pauper."
As if his own extravagant demands during and after the film's making
weren't enough, Dilip Kumar even instigated Saira Banu as a major
accomplice in the Desais' downfall. The producers had signed Saira for
their Bluff Master, a black and white venture, which was supposed to be a
quickie. While the film was still on the floors, Saira's Junglee was
released and became an all time hit. Immediately the beauty queen and
her mother demanded that Bluff Master be switched to Technicolor,
because Saira Banu had become too big a star for a black and white film.
At the time, the Desais could neither afford to give in to their
heroine's demands, nor to scrap the film, so they begged and pleaded
with Saira to complete the project as it was. The actress turned to her
family friend (they weren't married then), Dilip who insisted that the
Desais abide by Saira's request!
It took years for the Desais to complete their quickie'. After
which, they were not just financially ruined but also completely out of
business. This has made Manmohan Desai so bitter about Dilip and Saira,
that today he is the only filmmaker who dares to openly declare, "Dilip
Kumar may be a fabulous artiste, the best in the country, but I will
never make the mistake of signing him for my film!"
Another filmmaker who is still trying to get back his foothold in the
industry, after being back stabbed by his idol, is Chandra Barot.
Chandra was more of a family-member in the Yousuf Khan household, than a
producer. After he launched his Master with the thespian and his begum
in the lead, he fell hook, line and sinker under the Dilip Kumar spell.
He hung around the legend night and day, played his chauffeur,
bodyguard, odd-job man, etc., while Dilip Kumar worked on the script of
Master. Chandra was convinced that as soon as the paper work was done,
they would shoot continuously and complete the film at a stretch.
Unfortunately, for Barot, Dilip Kumar never completed the script itself!
Reason: He never intended to, because he was only using Chandra and
his film as a pawn to keep his wife from going back to a full-time
career on screen. He had convinced Saira that she should work in just
two good films - their home production and Master.
Dilip Kumar's little selfish game cost Chandra Barot his career.
Today, industrywallas mock him on his face, as a filmmaker who starts
but never finishes anything. Financiers, distributors, even stars refuse
to back his projects. Chandra has lost the credibility and standing
he'd built up after Don. Though he doesn't hit out at the thespian
openly, the undercurrent of bitterness is obvious whenever he speaks
about Dilip. "I have wasted a lot of my time on Master, but it couldn't
be helped," Barot declares wryly. "How was I to know that I was being
taken for a ride?"
Today, another producer Kishore Sharma is waiting and sweating it out
like Barot, for Dilip Kumar to give the dates and the green signal to
start Chandragupta Chanakya, which he had launched at least five years
ago! "I get very upset when I hear people say that my film will never be
made." Mr. Sharma snaps nervously. "But let me make this one thing very
clear, Chanakya is more important to me than an artiste or star. I will
definitely make this film with or without Mr. Dilip Kumar." Of course,
he hastily adds that only the thespian fits the role perfectly and that
only Dilip Kumar can do full justice to it! And the fact that he has
waited so long and pampered every whim and fancy of the best actor, only
proves that Sharma has no intentions of replacing Dilip Kumar in his
film.
According to insiders however, the reason why Kishore Sharma is
standing by Dilip Kumar is not so much for his suitability to the role,
but the power he commands in the industry. "Sharma is not an
industrywalla," revealed a know all. "Chanakya is his first film. The
man is scared that if he throws Dilip saab out, his only ambition in
life (to make this film) will remain incomplete."
Incidentally, Kishore Sharma is not the only one who is afraid of
Dilip's powerful connections. In fact, fear seems to be quite a common
feeling amongst the people who've fallen into the thespian's bad books.
It is believed that Dilip Kumar has a lot of friends in the underworld,
who act as his bodyguards and protectors whenever he needs them. In
fact, industry people insist that Dilip has often used these connections
to get even with his enemies'.
His own brother-in-law Iqbal Khan (son of the late Mehboob Khan) is
said to be terrified of the thespian. When his marriage to Dilip's
sister (Saeeda) didn't work out, Iqbal wanted a divorce. Till today (so
many years later), he hasn't got it because Dilip Kumar is supposed to
have threatened to ruin Iqbal if he ever gave talaq' to his sister.
"Dilip saab is very, very possessive about his family." Revealed an
insider, "and he is capable of killing any man who so much as tries to
hurt them!"
Today, though the couple lives separately, Iqbal continues to provide
for his wife. Not only does he pay for her maintenance (including a
car) and all her expenses, but he even sends her daily meals
(breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner) from his home (above Mehboob Studios)
to her brother's bungalow (where she now lives)!
However, since Iqbal and his family members were too scared to
clarify this, it was difficult to say how far the story was true or
exaggerated. But people close to Dilip's second brother-in-law (K. Asif)
insist that the actor had had a big hand in getting the filmmaker
beaten up by goondas when the two men fell out with each other.
Reportedly, Dilip could never forgive K. Asif when he betrayed Dilip's
trust in him, and eloped with his sister Akhtar. Even his own family
members recall how violent Dilip became when anyone so much as mentioned
their names in his presence. That's why when one night both Asif and
Akhtar were brutally beaten up by a masked man, everyone was certain
that the goondas had been sent by Dilip Kumar to teach the couple a
lesson!
Ismat Chugtai, the well-known Urdu writer who has been extremely
close to Dilip Kumar and his family, put the Dilip-K. Asif showdown in
its proper perspective. "I have known Yousuf for a long time now,"
she explained seriously, "and I do recall how furious he was when his
best friend ran away with his sister. Yousuf does have a terrible
temper, and it is quite possible that he must have even threatened to
kill K. Asif for what he had done. But I know for sure that Dilip Kumar
was not in any way involved in that awful (beat-up) incident. The poor
man isn't even capable of hurting a fly."
Dilip's sister-in-law and star of yesteryears, Begum Para, however,
didn't second Ismat Chugtai's opinion. Though she pleaded complete
ignorance where the Asif case was concerned, she insisted that Dilip
Kumar was certainly not as innocent as he looked! "Yousuf is the biggest
charmer," she declared cynically. "But behind that sweet charm lies the
most vindictive man one can ever come across! He never forgets
anything, and he always believes in striking back when you least expect
him to. Basically, the man is a coward and does not confront his
opponent face to face. He always hits out from behind!"
Begum Para was speaking from her own personal experience. The raw
deal that she and her children got from her husband's brother, is
something they will never forget. When Nasir Khan suddenly died of a
heart-attack while location hunting for his film Zid, his wife Para was
left with the sole responsibility of completing the film. "Our hero
Sanjay Khan was more than co-operative," she recalled. "He was making
his own film, Chandi Sona at that time, but he assured me that he'd give
me his dates whenever I wanted them.
I was deeply touched. But my heroine Saira Banu and her husband saw
to it that I never completed the film. Apart from Saira Banu playing
games and harassing me for dates, Dilip Kumar played a very dirty game
with me," Begum Para related wryly. "He went up to all our distributors
and convinced them that he would take the responsibility of completing
the film his brother had started. Of course, the distributors were
extremely happy and felt very reassured with his guarantee. Every time I
wanted to shoot and went to the distributors for the finance, I was
told that they would talk to Yousuf saab about it, since he had asked
them to deal with him directly. But of course, Dilip Kumar made sure he
was never available when they needed him! He just disappeared for eight
months.
Under the bahana of helping his poor sister-in-law, he was very
discreetly and cunningly cutting off my roots. I was left with no
alternative but to shelve my film and go off to Pakistan and live with
my mother."
Para still remembered the time she'd gone to say goodbye to Dilip and
Saira before leaving the country. "I was told that they were not at
home," she said. "So the next day, I called up their place in the
morning. Saira informed me that her saab could not come on the phone as
he was sleeping. I told her that I didn't know how long I would be in
Pakistan and it was just possible that I would never return and that I
would like to say goodbye to my brother-in-law. She made me hold on for
some time and came back only to tell me that she had tried her best, but
he would not get up!"
Dilip Kumar must have really believed that Para and her kids had quit
India for good, otherwise he would've never done what he did soon after
their departure. Begum Para was in for the biggest and the most
unbelievable jolt of her life when she unexpectedly returned to India
one fine day. "Dilip Kumar was having some financial problems because of
Ganga Jamuna," she revealed. "My husband was the producer of the film
and he had given the rights of Ganga Jamuna to one of the distributors.
The only way Dilip Kumar could get himself out of the mess was by
getting the rights of the film for himself. So, he declared that a trust
had been formed (headed by Dilip Kumar and including all his other
brothers and sisters) by my husband for the film. How could my husband
forget to add his wife's name and especially those of his three small
kids? The fact is that my husband had died intestate. He had made no
will. I never thought that the great Dilip Kumar would stoop to this
level even if it was to save his own skin."
The incident embittered the lady to such an extent that when Dilip
Kumar later tried to make up by offering to help his brother's children,
Begum Para promptly called him up, and retorted. "How can you be so
presumptuous as to even think that I would want your help for my
children?"
Can one believe such behavior from a man who has always been the
first star to organize charity cricket matches and variety shows for the
poor and the needy? In fact, when he was the Sheriff of Bombay, Dilip
Kumar refused to open any exhibition or inaugurate any shop or be the
chief guest at any function, unless the organizers donated a certain
amount of money to any one of the three charitable institutions he was
supporting. But then, like a Yousuf Khan critic puts it. "It is very
easy to be charitable when you don't have to put in your own money.
Dilip Kumar has always loved to project a public image, which is so
completely different from his real self!"
Even his first begum Saira Banu will confirm this. "Saab is full of
double standards," she had said after the Asma-scandal broke out. "He
knows that he has a blind following and he often takes advantage of this
to get his own work done. He works so hard on his speeches and sways
the masses with them. Even I was very impressed with his word. It was
only after what he did to me (his second marriage), that I realized how
empty and meaningless his speeches were. He never means what he says.
His public image and the Yousuf Khan I now know are two completely
different identities."
"It's hard to believe," continued a Saira Banu campwalla, "but the
great Dilip Kumar is actually an extremely petty man. Do you know that
when Sunil Dutt was made the Sheriff, Dilip Kumar spent sleepless
nights? He was so very upset. How can they make him the Sheriff? What
has he achieved so far? What has he done to deserve this post?' Dilip
cried over and over again. He could not accept the fact that another
film personality could hold the post he once had held! But of course, on
Mr. Dutt's face he was the perfect charmer. In fact, he was the first
one to send him flowers and a congratulatory message. He was even around
when Dutt saab was sworn in as the Sheriff. With all the back slapping
and the hugging, one couldn't even imagine that Dilip Kumar held any
grudge against the new Sheriff!"
Even women, especially his heroines, weren't immune from Dilip
Kumar's petty grudges and revenge tactics. During his hey-days, Suraiya
was probably the only top actress who didn't send out feelers for films
with him. Initially, intrigued by her indifference, Dilip requested K.
Asif to cast them together. Suraiya accepted Janwar, but throughout the
shooting, she stayed away from her co-star, ignored all his advances and
was on her best professional behaviour. Humiliated by her blatant
disinterest, Dilip got his own back in a way that fills Suraiya with
disgust to this date.
When the actress reported for shooting one day, the director narrated
a particular hot scene which she had to perform. Suraiya had to lie
flat on her stomach, while Dilip climbed over her back, scratched her
passionately and tore her clothes. Asif made the couple do the scene
over and over again. It was only later when she spotted the two friends
laughing together, that Suraiya caught on that the scene was just Dilip
Kumar's badla on her - it was not in the script and there was no film in
the camera during its shooting'! Humiliated and furious, Suraiya
stormed out of the sets and right out of the film.
"I never said a word," Suraiya recalled bitterly. "I quietly walked
out. If I had retaliated, I would have brought myself down to his level.
I didn't want to give him that satisfaction."
But unlike Suraiya, her contemporary Nimmi didn't take Dilip Kumar's
advances lying down. During the making of Amar, Nimmi slapped Dilip
right across the face, in front of the whole unit, when he tried to make
an ugly pass at her. Of course, since the strict no-nonsense Mehboob
Khan was the director of the film, Dilip Kumar had no alternative but to
quietly bear the public insult and he never got the opportunity to get
even with her because Nimmi made sure that she never worked with the
thespian again.
Nimmi and Suraiya, however, were the exceptions in Dilip Kumar's
love-life, for as a rule, women were an easy prey for the legendary
lover. Waheeda Rehman still hurts when she remembers how Dilip had
ditched her almost at the altar! Reportedly, Dilip had proposed to her
in Madras, but when he had changed his mind later, he didn't even have
the decency to inform her! Waheeda's people remember how terribly
shocked she was when she read about Dilip's engagement to Saira Banu in
the papers. That's why, the moment the Rehmans heard about Dilip's
second marriage, Waheeda's sister Saeeda immediately went and told Saira
about it. "Of course, I didn't believe her," Saira said sheepishly. "I
thought that she was only getting her own back at Saab and me."
"Waheeda was not the only woman Dilip ditched at the last moment when
he announced his engagement to Saira," revealed Begum Para. She spoke
of a married Princess he'd been involved with, who even got a divorce
from her first husband to marry Dilip. Ismat Chugtai added Kamini
Kaushal to the list, and insisted that the actress was ready to end her
marriage for a permanent relationship with Dilip Kumar, till the
thespian backed out at the last moment. "The two of them were so madly
in love with each other," revealed Ms. Chugtai, who got to see the love
couple together while they were co-starring in her film Arzoo. "I don't
think Dilip Kumar has ever loved a woman with as much passion as he
loved Kamini."
In fact, Ismat played quite a go between for them because Kamini was
always heavily chaperoned by her mother and brother. "They hounded her
wherever she went," explains Ms. Chugtai, "and did not allow her to
exchange a word with Dilip. My hero was so upset, that he refused to
shoot till he could spend more time alone with Kamini. So, we thought of
a plan. We had a big pillar built and we hired a crane to take Dilip,
Kamini and the cameraman up. We pretended to shoot a scene there.
Actually, there was no film in the camera and the poor cameraman had to
spend the whole day looking the other way while Dilip and Kamini held
hands and talked to their heart's content. Of course, the whole drama
cost us a lot of money. But we had to do it for our film."
But the biggest drama Dilip Kumar played was with the late Madhubala,
so it's hardly surprising that her family still blames him for her
death! Though the Madhubala-Dilip Kumar affair is almost a forgotten
twenty-two year old legend now, her sisters still smart at the way the
actor had abused her love for him. "Why do you want me to talk about
that man and insult my dead sister's holy spirit?" demands Madhubala's
eldest sister, Mrs. Kaniz Balsara, whenever Dilip's name is mentioned.
"Only recently, his sister Fauzia who stays opposite us, came over to
tell us that her brother had got married a second time and that she was
extremely happy about it. I told her point-blank that I wasn't. If he's
got married a second time to get children, I told her that would never
happen. Dilip Kumar will never get an aulad. And the day he gets one,
I'll know that there is no God in this world. Is duniya mein Khuda nahin
hai. My sister was literally craving for a child, but she died without
bearing one. If Dilip Kumar had married her, this would have never
happened. How can he get a child now?"
She insisted that the thespian had made an emotional fool of her
sister, for he never had any intentions of marrying her. "He expected
her to give up wearing silks and chiffon and forced her to wear simple
cotton salwar-kameezes," she revealed bitterly. "My sister obeyed him.
He asked her to remove her make-up, tie her hair back in a simple knot,
never to use nail polish. My sister agreed. But when he told her that he
would marry her only if she promised never to meet her father or her
family, my sister burst into tears and told him that we were her blood
and that she could never leave us. How can a man who so openly claims to
be so very close to his own brothers and sisters, expect another human
being to leave her family?"
Mrs. Balsara pointed out that Dilip's only grouse against their
father was that when Dilip asked Madhubala to marry him immediately and
stop working, their father had only insisted that she should complete
all the films she had in hand first. "My father only told Dilip that he
would not allow Madhu to ditch her producers. She would not sign any new
films, but she had to complete her old commitments. Tell me was he
wrong? But Dilip Kumar is a very revengeful man," Mrs. Balsara went on
furiously. "He paid my father back when he made a statement against him
in court. Madhu was never able to forgive Dilip for that. She told him
that she loved him, but she loved her father too, and she would not
allow anyone to insult him in public. Dilip Kumar is a hypocrite," Mrs.
Balsara said bitterly. "He is a man full of double standards. He did not
make the same rules for his wife Saira Banu. She was not only allowed
to work in films after marriage but, please excuse my language, he even
made his biwi dance nanga on screen!"
"My sister loved only one man," she said emotionally. "Madhu loved
Dilip Kumar till the day she breathed her last. The only reason why she
married Kishore Kumar was because she wanted to die a suhagan. And the
worst thing was that though she knew she was ailing, she wanted to live.
After all, she was so young. Dilip Kumar could have made her happy, but
he left her when she needed him the most. How can people respect such a
man? Woh aadmi nahin, kasaai hai! He is responsible for my sister's
death! I for one, wasn't surprised when he swore on the Koran and lied
to Saira. He is capable of anything. How can people sing praises of such
a man?"
How indeed, is the question? And the answer is the much admired
image, the glorified legend and the perfect myth that have so cleverly
camouflaged the truth' for nearly thirty years!
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