How Did Yusuf Khan Of Peshawar Become Dilip Kumar Of India?

Legendary Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar, who was born as Yusuf Khan in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province before the partition of India, passed away on July 7 at the age of 98.

Exactly ninety-eight years ago, a handsome King of  Romance was born into a big size family in Peshawar and was named Yusuf Khan. Ghulam Sarwar Khan, who ran a fruit business, was the father of 12 children, of whom Yusuf was the fourth. When Yusuf was only six years old, his father moved to Mumbai with the whole family, until the subcontinent was divided.

After moving from Peshawar to Mumbai, Yousuf went to school and college there. He lost his father’s business and took a job in one or two places, but luck was probably on his side.

One day he suddenly met the famous actress of that time and Devika Rani of Bombay Talkies who offered Yusuf to become an actor and assured him of a high salary of Rs. 500 as well as an annual increase of Rs. 200.

Devika thought that Yusuf Khan’s name does not fit on a romantic hero, so she suggested three names to him, Jahangir, Vasudev and Dilip Kumar, out of which Yusuf chose the last name.

Yusuf thought the name was the best in the sense that his identity could not be revealed to his conservative father, who called everyone associated with cinema a gimmick.

An accidental meeting changed Yusuf’s life, but with that meeting, his acting style in the film world also changed.

Yousef acted in only 63 films in 53 years between 1944 and 1997, but during that time he adapted to whatever role he played.

Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor are sometimes called Dilip G’s contemporary actors, but there is no denying the fact that there was no one as versatile and talented as him.

Raj Kapoor usually played the role of Charlie Chaplin, while Dev Anand, despite being old, could not get out of the spell of youth and continued to play similar roles.

Be it a romantic role or a comedy, whatever role Dilip Kumar played, he was immortalized. He was also awarded the highest civilian honour by the Government of Pakistan, the second Indian to receive the award after Morarji Desai.