Dilip Kumar's Birthday: Did you know he wanted to call Asha Parekh by THIS screen-name?

On account of veteran actor Dilip Kumar's birthday, some of the lesser-known facts from his acting career and coming to the fore. The actor is turning 98 on December 10, 2020. Going from the trivial matters about him on IMDb, it has been noticed that the actor wanted to identify actor Asha Parekh with a nickname, "Asha Pari", that she consequently could not accept, and had to use her real name instead. Asha Parekh has not been seen working in any of Dilip Kumar's movies, but it is said that the actors, along with Dilip Kumar's wife Saira Banu, had friendly relations. Read ahead to discover more about the friendship that Dilip Kumar and Asha Parekh shared.

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Dilip Kumar's Nickname "Asha Pari"

One of the most fascinating facts revealed on Dilip Kumar's birthday is that even though the actor could not share a movie with Asha Parekh, he had initially opined that "Asha Pari" would be a fitting screen-name for the latter. According to IMDb, Asha Parekh wrote in her 2017 memoir, 'The Hit Girl', that she shared a close friendship with Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu, which lasted a long period of sixty years. She also added that the nickname "Asha Pari" was given to her by Dilip Kumar when she was just starting her career in the Hindi cinema as a heroine in 1959. She had to let go of the name consequently, as she preferred to use her real name on-screen.

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Dilip Kumar and Asha Parekh

As mentioned earlier, Asha could not get the opportunity to star in any of Dilip Kumar's movies. As written further in her memoir, there was a possibility of both the actors coming together once, in 1979, when director Nasir Hussain was working on the film Fantastic, which was later released in 1985. Asha Parekh had a chance to star with Dilip Kumar, but the director changed his mind and choose different actors for the movie. Asha was left crestfallen as her opportunity was gone, but the duo continued to share healthy relations despite the cancellation of their selection. Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu's friendship with Asha Parekh thrived and continued for the later years.

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Soon after the incident of Fantastic, false reports were published on the Internet claiming that the friendship between the actors had begun dwindling. The reports claimed that Asha had not worked with Dilip Kumar apparently because she did not like him. However, Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu did not believe the lies and proved the reporters wrong by attending Asha Parekh's 70th birthday in 2012.

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