Dilip Kumar

Dilip Kumar or Mohammed Yusuf Khan (11 December 1922 – 7 July 2021), better known by his stage name Dilip Kumar, was an Indian actor and film producer who worked in Hindi cinema. Referred to as the "Tragedy King" for his portrayal of serious roles and retrospectively as "The First Khan" of Bollywood, Dilip Kumar has been described as one of the most successful film stars in the industry and is credited with bringing a distinct form of method acting to cinema. Kumar holds the record for most wins for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor (eight, which was later equalled by Shah Rukh Khan) and was also the inaugural recipient of the award, Dilip Kumar has won 3 Filmfare awards consecutively (which was later equalled by Abhishek Bachchan).

In a career spanning over five decades, Kumar worked in over 65 films in a variety of roles. Dilip Kumar debuted as an actor in the film Jwar Bhata (1944), produced by Bombay Talkies. Following a series of unsuccessful ventures, Dilip Kumar had his first box office hit in Jugnu (1947). Kumar found further success with the romantic Andaz (1949), the swashbuckling Aan (1952), the social drama Daag (1952), the dramatic Devdas (1955), the comical Azaad (1955), the romantic social Naya Daur (1957), the noir mystery Madhumati (1958), the comedy-drama Paigham (1959) the epic historical Mughal-E-Azam (1960), the social dacoit crime drama Gunga Jumna (1961), and the comedy drama Ram Aur Shyam (1967). Both Andaz and Aan briefly became the highest-grossing Indian film up to that point, a feat later achieved by Mughal-e-Azam, which sustained the record for 15 years. As of 2021, the latter remains the highest-grossing film in India when adjusted for inflation.

The 1970s saw Kumar's career take a downturn, marked by three back to back commercial failures, namely Dastaan (1972), Sagina (1974) and Bairaag (1976). In 1976, Dilip Kumar went on a five-year hiatus from film performances and returned with the revolutionary drama Kranti, which was the highest-grossing Indian film of the year. Dilip Kumar continued to play leading roles in films such as Shakti (1982), Karma (1986), and Saudagar (1991). His last on-screen appearance was in the commercially unsuccessful Qila (1998), which saw him in a dual role. Kumar later served as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's parliament, from 2000 to 2006.

Kumar's personal life was the subject of much media attention. Dilip Kumar was in a long-term relationship with actress and frequent co-star Madhubala that ended after the Naya Daur court case in 1957. Dilip Kumar married actress Saira Banu in 1966 and resided in Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai, until his death in 2021. For his contributions to film, the Government of India awarded him with the Padma Bhushan in 1991 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015, the country's third and second-highest civilian awards respectively. Dilip Kumar was also awarded India's highest accolade in the field of cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994. In 1998, the Government of Pakistan conferred Kumar with Nishan-e-Imtiaz, their highest civilian decoration, making him the only Indian to have received the honour. The house that Kumar grew up in, located in Peshawar, was declared a national heritage monument in 2014 by the Pakistani government.