Dilip Kumar Birthday: Interesting lesser known facts about the 97-year-old actor

Known as the Tragedy King of Bollywood, veteran actor Dilip Kumar is one of the greatest actors Bollywood has known. The aura that Dilip Kumar is surrounded with, has been unmatchable. Directors and actors love him for his immense contribution, passion, and love to the Hindi Cinema. The actor posted on his Twitter handle thanking fans and his loved ones for their never-ending prayers. Check it out.

Lesser-known facts

As this legendary actor celebrates his 97th birthday today, here are some of his lesser-known facts that further prove why we can never have another Dilip Kumar in Bollywood.

• Dilip Kumar’s real name is Mohammad Yusuf Khan. Popular actor from Bombay Talkies, Devika Rani gave him the screen name Dilip Kumar. Uday Kumar and Vaaman Kumar were the other two names that were considered for the actor before finalising the third one.

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• Dilip Kumar is the first actor in Bollywood who hails from Pakistan. As per reports, he was also the first superstar who had successfully won the trophy for the Best Actor in Filmfare Award.

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• Before considering acting as his profession, Dilip Kumar used to sell fruits in Pune, India.

• Dilip made his debut in the movie Jwar Bhata on the recommendation of iconic star Ashok Kumar, who was his mentor in the initial days of his career.

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• Dilip Kumar once refused to work alongside Saira Banu. As fate would have it, he ended up marrying her in the year 1966 at the age of 44 while Saira Banu was just 22 then.

• Dilip later got married to a Hyderabadi girl named Asma in 1980. But the marriage did not last long. Speaking about this in his autobiography, The Substance and the Shadow, the legendary actor mentioned how it was a grave mistake on his part and something that he would like to forget about.

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• Dilip Kumar was known to be a perfectionist and one of the first method actors, Dilip had even learned how to play the sitar for a song sequence in his movie Kohinoor.