RIP Dilip Kumar: Lesser known facts about the tragedy king of Bollywood

Mumbai, July 07: Veteran actor Dilip Kumar has died at the age of 98, Dr Jalil Parkar, the pulmonologist treating the actor at Mumbai's PD Hinduja Hospital has confirmed to news agency ANI.

Why is Dilip Kumar the tragedy king of Bollywood?

Bollywood has been home to several talented actors over the years who have touched millions of hearts and ruled the silver screen for decades. Amid this is Dilip Kumar who has been touted as the evergreen tragedy king.

The First Khan

Referred as "The First Khan", he has been credited for bringing a distinct form of method acting technique to cinema.

Dilip Sahab, born as Mohammad Yusuf Khan, has managed to fascinate everyone with his stupendous acting skills in his career of over five decades. As we pray for his speedy recovery, we have this video of the actor along with some lesser-known facts about him.

Debut in 1944 with the Bollywood movie

Dilip Kumar made his debut in 1944 with the Bollywood movie, Jwar Bhata. He rose to fame in 1947 with the successful movie, Jugnu. Dilip Kumar holds the record of winning the Filmfare Award for Best Actor maximum number of times, till date.

Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor

Dilip Kumar did his schooling from Barnes School in Deolali, Nashik where Raj Kapoor was his childhood friend and the two grew up together in the same religiously mixed neighbourhood.

Script-writer

In 1942, Dilip Kumar joined Bombay Talkies where he worked as a script-writer for the salary of Rs 1250 per month.

Dilip Kumar reportedly suffered from depression because of the intense characters he was playing in movies in the 1950s due to which he was also labelled as the "tragedy king".

Dilip Kumar was approached by the British director

Dilip Kumar was approached by the British director, David Lean in 1962, in order to play the character of Sherif Ali in his movie Lawrence of Arabia, but Dilip Kumar declined the offer.