Happy Birthday : Dilip Kumar [11 December]

Dilip Kumar was born 11 December 1922, as Muhammad Yousuf Khan, is an Indian film actor. He debuted as an actor in the movie Jwar Bhata (1944), produced by Bombay Talkies. He is known as Tragedy King, Dilip Kumar’s career has spanned six decades and over 60 films. Critics acclaimed him among one of the greatest actors in the history of Hindi cinema.  Dilip Kumar is the first actor to receive a Filmfare Best Actor Award (1954) and shares the record for the most number of Filmfare awards won for that category with Shahrukh Khan, (eight wins).  The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan award in 1991 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994 for his contributions towards Indian cinema and nominated him to Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament for a term.

Dilip Kumar was born as Muhammad Yousuf Khan on 11 December 1922 in Peshawar. He was born into a  Peshawari family,In the late 1930s, his family of 12 members relocated to Mumbai. Around 1940, Dilip Kumar left home for Pune where he started his career as a canteen owner and a dry fruit supplier. In 1943, actress Devika Rani, and her husband Himanshu Rai who owned Bombay Talkies spotted Dilip Kumar in Aundh military canteens Pune,  and cast him with a lead role in their film Jwar Bhata (1944), which marked Dilip Kumar’s entry into the Bollywood film industry. Hindi author Bhagwati Charan Varma gave him the screen name Dilip Kumar.

Dilip Kumar married actress and beauty queen Saira Banu in year 1966 when she was 22.