"I first saw this national treasure, Dilip Kumar , up there on the screen in the Broadway cinema in Dadar, Mumbai. The movie was Mughal-e-Azam , K. Asif’s ambitious film, which came to us after years of hard work and unmatched passion.
To see this stunning man lock horns with the emperor, played by no less than Prithviraj Kapoor, who was enacting the role of Shahanshah Akbar, was an experience that never left me. The echoes of his verbal duels with his father still resonate in the inner chambers of my heart. I bet they still echo in the hearts of millions who have watched this enduring classic.
Thereafter, I wept when I saw him in Devdas. In the role of Devdas , the man who just can’t get over his childhood beloved, Paro, he echoed the angst of those times, the anguish of the human heart that tries every trick in the book to get over a woman and fails. His portrayal was brilliant.
Then I watched him in Ganga Jamuna . He gave me a taste of rural India, the simplicity of my countrymen, the men of the soil who live by those core values on which the nation even stands today, and who pay a heavy price for breaking the life-sustaining laws that keep societies together. When he’s shot by his brother, when he’s gone mad with rage and seeking revenge against those who have wronged him, Ganga is immortal in my heart.
The way he says, “Hey Ram,” and dies still echoes in my heart, telling you that the man was indeed a living, breathing icon of the plural heritage of this coun.
