ACTOR
Dilip Kumar
- Known for
- Mughal-E-Azam (1960), Karma (1986), Shakti (1982), Devdas (1955)
73 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Dilip Kumar is an actor best known for Mughal-E-Azam, Karma and Shakti.
All facts (73)
- #001
Dilip Kumar turned down the role of Sherif Ali in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, which was ultimately played by Egyptian star Omar Sharif. He was offered the part of Tafas, who is ironically shot by Sherif Ali in the desert introduction scene. Omar Sharif shot to world fame with that role and went on to collaborate further with David Lean on another epic, Doctor Zhivago, this time in the lead.
- #002
Dilip Kumar considered Motilal, Sohrab Modi and Ashok Kumar to be more versatile actors than himself chronologically, and he was also a fan of K. L. Saigal. He felt his seniors M. G. Ramachandran and Pran, and Sivaji Ganesan, Sanjeev Kumar and Rajesh Khanna, who were younger than him, were more versatile than he was. He later added in the 1990s that he also admired the contributions of Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Hasan.
- #003
Dilip Kumar was 44 and Saira Banu was 22 when they married.
- #004
The period when Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor peaked together in the film industry was 1949-1961. Before Jugnu (1947) made him a star, Dilip Kumar had three failures between 1944 and 1947. Similarly, Dev Anand became a star after Ziddi was a box-office hit in 1948, but he had three flops between 1946 and 1948 after his 1946 debut. Raj Kapoor became a star when Andaz and Barsaat were hits in 1949, and before 1949 he had made 10 films as a hero between 1943 and 1948, all 10 of which were flops. The 1962-1975 period was not good for either Dilip Kumar or Raj Kapoor, as they suffered many failures; Raj Kapoor in particular had gained weight and looked 20 years older than Dev and Dilip in the 1970s and much older in the 1980s, whereas Dev Anand moved forward and, looking younger and fitter, made romantic films in the 1970s and films in other genres in the 1970s and 80s, and Dev had many hits as a lead hero between 1948 and 1991.
- #005
Dilip Kumar was Bollywood's second biggest star after Ashok Kumar, but he only became a star thanks to the 1947 hit Jugnu and 1948's Shaheed. When he made his debut, Motilal, Sohrab Modi, Ashok Kumar and K. L. Saigal were regarded as bigger actors than him.
- #006
In 1982 he went on a world concert tour with his wife Saira Banu, Johnny Walker and Mahendra Kapoor. They visited cities in Canada, the United States and England.
- #007
In addition to his native Hindko, Dilip Kumar speaks Hindustani (Hindi/Urdu), Bengali, Gujarati, English, Pashto, Marathi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri and Persian fluently.
- #008
Dilip Kumar is the brother of actor Nasir Khan.
- #009
According to Dilip Kumar, the people who made him a star were Devika Rani, Ashok Kumar, Nitin Bose, Sashadar Mukherji, Bimal Roy, SS Vasan and Mehboob Khan.
- #010
The 1957 film Musafir featured him and Lata Mangeshkar, with the latter singing in Dilip's voice on the song Lagi nahin chhote rama kahe jiya jai. The film was critically acclaimed. It was not Dilip Kumar's only solo-hero film, however. It covers three stories involving a person's birth (with Kishore Kumar in the lead), marriage (with Suchitra Sen in the lead) and death (with Dilip Kumar and Usha Kiron in the lead).
- #011
Devdas was the first film in which he and Vyjanthimala appeared together; although it failed at the box office, it won awards for most of the team; Vyjanthimala was nominated for Best Actress at Filmfare and Dilip Kumar won the Filmfare Best Actor award. They made 7 films together in total, of which Naya Daur, Madhumati, Paigham and Ganga Jamuna scored highest at the box office, while Devdas, Leader and Sangharsh had lower box-office returns.
- #012
He had hits paired with Meena Kumari such as Foot Path (1953), Azaad (1955), Yahudi (1958) and Kohinoor (1960). Interestingly, the two were known respectively as the tragedy king and the tragedy queen, yet the films they made together belonged to other genres. Azaad was a comedy-historical but fictional, Yahudi was a historical true love story, Foot Path was a crime genre film and Kohinoor was a historical film.
- #013
During rising tensions between India and Pakistan, he agreed to accept an award from Pakistan and was threatened by workers of a far-right political party in Bombay, India. He in fact wrote to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for protection. The threat has since diminished with the improvement in relations between India and Pakistan.
- #014
Dilip Kumar is known as the "tragedy king".
- #015
He is the uncle of actress Shaheen, who is married to actor Sumeet Saigal (through his marriage to Saira Bano).
- #016
Between 1944 and 1968, Dilip Kumar made 26 films as a lead hero in the tragedy genre. Of these, 17 were hits and 9 were flops. Between 1948 and 1976 he appeared as a lead hero in only 18 films in other genres such as comedy, historical, social drama or thriller, of which 11 were hits and 7 failed.
- #017
Actress Shaheen is the daughter of Saira Banu's brother Sultan Ahmed. Sultan Ahmed is often confused with the director Sultan Ahmed.
- #018
He appeared in Sagar Arts' shelved film "Sanam" (1981), which was to star Dilip Kumar, Rakhee Gulzar, Reena Roy, Mithun Chakraborthy and Ranjeeta, and was to be produced and directed by Ramanand Sagar.
- #019
Dilip Kumar discovered the actor Tarık Şah.
- #020
Dilip Kumar is the son-in-law of Naseem Banu.
- #021
Dilip Kumar made 62 films, 5 of them as a guest actor, meaning he had only 57 films as the lead. Between 1947 and 1996 he had 25 failures, including 2 films in which he appeared as a guest actor that flopped. Between 1947 and 1974 he appeared as a guest actor in 3 films, and between 1980 and 1998 he had 30 box-office successes, including 7 hits as the lead in multi-hero films. Of his 57 films as the lead, he had a total of 23 failures as the lead between 1947 and 1996 and a total of 34 hits as the lead between 1947 and 1996. Of the 62 films he appeared in as an actor between 1946 and 1998, 25 were unsuccessful and 37 were hits.
- #022
Paired with Nimmi, Dilip Kumar had hits such as Deedar (1951), Daag (1952), Aan (1953) and Uran Khatola (1955), and only one failure: Amar (1954).
- #023
With Nargis, Dilip Kumar had 5 hits — Mela (1948), Andaz (1949), Jogan (1950), Babul (1950) and Deedar (1951) — and 2 flops: Anokha Pyar (1948) and Hulchul (1951).
- #024
Dilip Kumar's sister Akhtar was married to the director K. Asif.
- #025
Dilip Kumar had a sister named Fauzia.
- #026
Dilip Kumar has a niece named Zooni Asif. She is the daughter of Akhtar Asif and K. Asif (this was K. Asif's second marriage). Zooni is a schoolteacher in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
- #027
Dilip Kumar's nephews are Amjad Muhammed and Javed Muhammed (the sons of Noor Muhammed).
- #028
Dilip Kumar has an elder brother named Noor Mohammed.
- #029
Dilip Kumar's sister Saeeda is married to İkbal Han (the son of Mehboob Han).
- #030
Dilip Kumar's eldest sister was named Sakina. She never married. She died on 29 April 1976.
- #031
Dilip Kumar has a younger sister named Ferida. She worked as a make-up artist at Femima Magazine in the 1950s and 60s.
- #032
Dilip Kumar's nephews are the producer Saqib Khan and the writer Ilaham (from his sister Saeeda).
- #033
Dilip Kumar's eldest brother was named Ayub Sarwar. He was a writer in Pakistani films. He wrote the screenplay for the old Pakistani film "Aadmi". He wanted to direct a Pakistani film called "Kala Aadmi" starring Dilip. He died before he could do so.
- #034
Dilip Kumar was to star in the shelved film "Asar", which was to feature Ajay Devgan and Priyanka Chopra and be directed by Kuku Kohli. The film was to be released in 2004 but was shelved due to Dilip Kumar's health problems.
- #035
Dilip Kumar appeared in the shelved film Raasta, which starred Mithun Chakraborty and Anupam Kher. The film was to be released in 1989.
- #036
Dilip Kumar appeared in producer Mushir Riaz's shelved untitled film, which starred Amitabh Bachchan and Amjad Khan. The film was to be released in 1982, immediately after Shakti.
- #037
Dilip Kumar was to star in B. R. Chopra's shelved film "Chanakya Chandragupta", which also had Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Praveen Babi, Helen and Vijendra in leading roles. Hollywood make-up technicians had already worked on Dilip Kumar's look for the film. The film was shelved for unknown reasons. In 1985 Chopra tried to restart it with Dilip Kumar and Aditya Pancholi, but it was shelved once again.
- #038
The actor Abid (Sayyed) worked as a Dilip Kumar impersonator in most of his films. Abid made his debut as a lead in the 1992 film "Yeh Raat Phi Na Aayegi", but afterwards worked only as a Dilip Kumar copy.
- #039
Dilip Kumar had a brother named Ahsan Khan, who produced Basu Bhattacharya's film Sangat. It remained unreleased for years and was finally released as Kabhi Dhoop Kabhi Chhaon.
- #040
Dilip Kumar has a younger sister named Mumtaz.
- #041
His brother Nasir Khan first married Suraya (Suriya) Nazir (Begüm), the daughter of the legendary Pakistani filmmaker Nazir Ahmed Khan. From this marriage he had a daughter, Naheed Khan, who is still alive. His former father-in-law Nazir Ahmed Khan first married his cousin Sikandara Begüm (sister of K. Asif, the legendary director of the 1960 film Mughal-e-Azam). He later had a very brief marriage to the legendary Kathak dancer Sitara Devi, and finally married the film actress Swaran Lata. Today the late Nazir's son Akhtar Nazir Khan, known as Cooki, works intensively to revive Pakistani cinema and strives to bring audiences at home and abroad the same finely crafted and creative films that Nazir once took pride in across South Asia.
- #042
His brother Nasir Khan made his acting debut in Mazdoor in 1945. After several films he moved to Lahore following Partition and appeared in Pakistan's first film, Teri Yaad, in 1948. In 1949 he appeared in another Pakistani film, Shahida. Neither film succeeded, and Nasir returned to India in 1951. He continued his acting career in Bombay and appeared in many films throughout the 1950s.
- #043
His grand-niece is the world-famous jewellery designer Kichu Dandiya, who owns the "Kichu" jewellery label. Kichu Dandiya is the daughter of Lubna Mohammed Nasir Khan. Lubna is the daughter of the former actor Nasir Khan (Dilip Kumar's brother). Lubna has another child named Ashu Dandiya.
- #044
The 1958 Pakistani film Aadmi won several Nigar Awards. Its story was written by Dilip Kumar's brother Ayub Sarwar. It was said that Dilip himself planned to make a film based on this story, but Sarwar gave it to Loqman during a visit to Bombay. Another coincidence of this film was the love affair between Dr Muslehdin and the singer Naheed Niazi, which led to their marriage.
- #045
His brother Nasir Khan developed alopecia and lost his hair and eyebrows. This condition brought his acting career to an end.
- #046
His sister Akhtar Asif completed the film "Love & God" after her husband's death in 1971. Akhtar stepped in as producer.
- #047
His nephew Fahd is married to the actress Kiran Vairale. They live in New York and have a son named Asaad.
- #048
Saira Banu's brother Sultan Ahmed is married to a woman named Rahat. Rahat was once married to Ayub, the son of the director Mehboob Khan. From that marriage Ayub and Rahat had two sons, Afzal Khan and Aslam Khan. Ayub and Rahat later divorced, and Rahat then remarried Sultan Ahmed (Saira Banu's brother). From this marriage Rahat and Sultan had a daughter named Shaheen. Shaheen later played the lead in Maha Sangram. Shaheen is also Sayesha's mother.
- #049
Dilip Kumar married Asma Begüm (Sahiba) for the second time on 30 May 1981. Dilip kept this marriage a secret from Saira Banu. Dilip then divorced Asma on 22 June 1983. Asma Sahiba later stayed with her brother in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1985. Asma's first husband was named Sadiq Mohiuddin (Nizam's son). Sadiq worked as a real estate consultant. Asma and Sadiq had 3 children. They divorced on 30 October 1980. Asma later (after divorcing Dilip) remarried Sadiq, moved to Bangalore and bought a large farm.
- #050
His nephew Ayub Khan's first marriage was to Mayasa (Marissa, the daughter of Dilip's sister Fauzia Surve). At university Mayasa was in love with Salman Khan.
- #051
In the early 1960s he had a relationship with Viju (nicknamed Vicky). She was divorced from the prince of Kota and was hailed as the princess of Pratapkot. She later married Kulbhushan Kharbanda.
- #052
KC Bokadia planned a film with Dilip Kumar and Sridevi in 1991. Sridevi turned the film down because no near date was available.
- #053
Dilip Kumar's nephew Zahid Khan is married to Mumtaz, the eldest daughter of the actor Roopesh Kumar. They have 2 children: Ahad and Aglabi.
- #054
Both he and Saira Banu Khan are cousins of the Pakistani cricketer Asif Iqbal.
- #055
In 1984, Dilip Kumar planned to write, produce and direct a film titled "Sattya", which was to star Saira Banu and Tarık Shah (Dilip's discovery). The film was repeatedly postponed and eventually shelved.
- #056
Dilip Kumar was cast in Madhumalika's shelved film "Chanakya Aur Chandragupta" (1975/1979), in which he was to play Chanakya, Dharmendra was to play Chandragupta, and Hema Malini, Parveen Babi and Kabir Bedi were to appear, with Bedi as Seleucus. Jan Nisaar Akhtar was to write the lyrics with music by Naushad. Kishore Sharma (Meena Kumari's brother-in-law, married to Mehmood's former wife) was to produce, while B. R. Chopra was to direct.
- #057
Dilip Kumar was cast in Wadhera International's shelved film "Omer Khayyam" (1976), with music by Naushad, produced by Roshan Wadhera and directed by B. R. Chopra.
- #058
Dilip Kumar starred in Barot Films' shelved film "Master" (Baroot) (1977), alongside Saira Banu, Zeenat Aman (replacing Reena Roy) and Amjad Khan, with music by Kalyanji Anandji and produced and directed by Chandra Barot. The film was to be a remake of My Fair Lady, much like Jeetendra's Hum Tere Aashiq Hain and Dev Anand's Man Pasand.
- #059
In 1977, Sohrab Modi decided to remake his film Pukar. He signed Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar, Saira Banu, Rakhee Gulzar, Shabana Azmi and Pran. Kamal Amrohi was writing it, but as the stars kept demanding that Sohrab increase their roles, Sohrab shelved the film. It turned out to be very stressful.
- #060
Dilip Kumar and Shatrughan Sinha were cast in Jamu Pictures' untitled 1975 film, written by Salim and Javed and produced by N. P. Ali.
- #061
In 1993, Dilip Kumar was cast in Parath Productions' shelved, untitled film, which also starred Hema Malini, Vivek Mushran and Manisha Koirala and was directed by Harish Shah. Akshay Kumar was approached for the second role but demanded a higher fee than Vivek. Shah Rukh Khan also showed interest in the role. The film was finally shelved.
- #062
Mehboob Khan and Dilip Kumar announced a film titled "Habba Khatoon" in the 1960s. Years later, Roshan Wadhera launched a film titled "Habba Khatoon" starring Raj Kapoor, Sanjay Khan and Zeenat Aman, with music by Naushad and directed by B. R. Chopra. B. R. Chopra withdrew from the project and Sanjay Khan took over the direction. This was in 1979. In 1989, Muzaffar Ali launched a film on the same subject titled "Zooni", to star Shammi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna and Dimple Kapadia. It too was eventually shelved.
- #063
Dilip Kumar was cast in Sagar Enterprises' shelved film "Sanam" (1983), starring alongside Rakhee Gulzar, Reena Roy, Mithun Chakraborthy, Ranjeeta Kaur and Raj Babbar, with music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal and written, produced and directed by Ramanand Sagar.
- #064
Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu were cast in Kiron Productions' untitled 1974 film, which was shelved, with music by S. D. Burman and Rajendra Bhatia producing and directing.
- #065
Kamal Amrohi wanted to make a film titled "Sheeshe Pe Baal" with Dilip Kumar. It was shelved.
- #066
Dilip Kumar had written a script titled "Kashmir Valley". It was to be shot in Kashmir before Dilip and Saira married. In the film, Dilip Kumar played a Kashmiri Pandit alongside Saira Banu. He later considered producing it after Bairaag. He realised he was now too old for the role.
- #067
In 2003/2004, Dilip Kumar was cast in Sahara's untitled film. The leads were Dilip Kumar and Manoj Bajpai. The producer was Sahara One Motion Pictures and the director was Tinnu Anand. It was to be a courtroom drama.
- #068
Dilip was to star in the shelved film "Hamara Watan" (1964). The leads were Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Rajendra Kumar and Saira Banu. The music was by Naushad, the lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi, and the producer and director was Mehboob Khan. Following Mehboob Khan's death in June 1964, the production was shelved.
- #069
Dilip Kumar was cast in the shelved Navjeevan Films film "Anyay" (1988). Cast: Dilip Kumar, Rekha, Jaya Pradha, Raj Babbar, Suresh Oberoi, Anupam Kher; music by Annu Malik; producer: Tito; director: Tony Juneja.
- #070
In 2009, Dilip Kumar was honoured with CNN-IBN's Lifetime Achievement Award.
- #071
Dilip Kumar's house in Peshawar, Pakistan, was declared a national heritage monument in 2014 by the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Navaz Şerif.
- #072
In 1998, the Government of Pakistan awarded Kumar the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, Pakistan's highest civilian honour.
- #073
Dilip Kumar had a brother named Aslam.
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