5 Films - Must Watch Dilip Kumar Films

Devdas (1955)

 

Based on the classical novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Devdas is perhaps India's most celebrated romantic tragedy. Among the four popular versions in Hindi cinema, which include the likes of KL Saigal, Shah Rukh Khan and more recently, Abhay Deol in the role of the miserable drunk lovesick character; Dilip Kumar's edition, directed by Bimal Roy, is still considered the best. One of the major contributors in building his image as the tragedy king, Devdas became a cult film and a cultural symbol for all love-struck hopeless romantics.

Mughal-e-Azam (1960)

 

 

This K Asif film was an epic of large proportions on every single scale. The sets, the screenplay, the dialogues and lyrics, the music and of course, the cast. With Prithviraj Kapoor as Akbar and the fairy-like Madhubala as the court-dancer Anarkali; the film is a major landmark in the history of Indian cinema. For Dilip Kumar, who was reluctant to work in a period film at first, the role turned out to be iconic and by this time, he had gained a superstar status with a daylight of a distance between him and the others.

 

Ram Aur Shyam (1967)

 

 

It has been 45 years since this film hit the screens and we are still making Ramesh-Suresh jokes. The legacy of the double role was popularised by the two Dilip Kumars on screen. Ram and Shyam are twins, who are nothing but alter-egos of the same personality -- a plot that has thereafter been used in a multitude of blockbuster hits like Sita Aur Gita (Hema Malini), Chaalbaaz (Sridevi) and Judwaa ( Salman Khan). The film was marketed as Dilip Kumar's first dual-role and marked the beginning of the doppelganger effect in Hindi films.

 

Saudagar (1991)

 

Dilip Kumar has been inactive since acting in Qila in 1998. However, for fans and followers, who have seen him through the large part of his illustrious career, it is impossible to attribute it as the retirement film of this impeccable actor. Saudagar, on the other hand, was the film he did before Qila; and the Subhash Ghai film had him play Thakur Veer Singh, acting along side Rajkumar for the first time since Paigham. Influenced by the plot of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Saudagar sees Dilip Kumar in the role of Capulet.

Naya Daur (1957)

 

A typical melodrama of the 1950s where socialism was at the forefront of every second film, Naya Daur is a tale of man versus machine. Set in post-independence India, where rapid industrialisation had rendered many professions rudimentary, Naya Daur sees Dilip Kumar as Shankar trying to compete with the advancements around him. Shot originally in black and white, the film was colorised and re-released in 2007. With OP Nayyar's fabulous music to go with the rural setting, this BR Chopra film made Dilip Kumar a people's hero in the truest sense.

Published in DNA After Hrs (Pune) on December 14, 2012