Legendary actor Dilip Kumar died in Mumbai on Wednesday 7 July 2021 at the age of 98

 Dilip Kumar was born Mohammed Yusuf Khan on 11 December 1922   known as "Yusuf Sahab" to many people.  He changed his name to Dilip Kumar on the advice of Hindi film legend, Devika Rani, who had hired him for Bombay Talkies.  He was a very good  football player at school, and was the secretary of his school's football association.  He  was very soft-spoken in real life and he credits his parents for this, pointing out that his mother was very gentle and his father never shouted even when he was upset. , Dilip Kumar was the biggest star to be discovered by Actor Raj Kapoor. They both  lived close to each other and went to the same college (Khalsa College).  His proficiency in Urdu got him a job in Bombay Talkies (owned by the legendary Devika Rani) in 1942, as a script writer. He was hired at Rs 1,250 per month.  Dilip Kumar was known to sing well too. He, however, sang only once on screen - in Musafir (1957), where he sang "Lagi nahin chhote rama kahe jiya jai". Many were struck by how similar his voice sounded to that of the man who sang so often for him, Talat Mahmood. Dilip Kumar was introduced to Ashok Kumar by Devika Rani, and would watch Ashok Kumar acting carefully. He credits Ashok Kumar with giving him the advice which became his guideline for acting: "Acting is all about not acting." He could speak Hindi, Pashto, Urdu, Punjabi, Marathi, English, Bengali, Gujarati and Persian, and was also fluent in Bhojpuri and Awadhi. Dilip Kumar became legendary for his tragic roles in films, often playing roles which sometimes moved the audience to tears. These performances earned him the title "Tragedy King."  Dilip Kumar married actress Saira Banu on  October 11, 1966 .

The famous Filmfare Awards were first presented in 1954. And the first person to win the Best Actor award was Dilip Kumar for his work in Daag. He won the award eight times and is the only one to win the award three years in a row (from 1956 to 1958 for Azaad, Devdas and Naya Daur). He was nominated in every decade in which he was actively acting - his last nomination came for Saudagar in 1992.   Dilip Kumar was awarded the Nishan-e-Imtiaz in 1998 , Pakistan's highest civilian award.   He remains the only Indian with that honour. He is considered one of the greatest actors in the history of Hindi cinema.  He holds the Guinness World Record for winning the maximum number of awards by an Indian actor. 

An era in Hindi cinema ended when Dilip Kumar breathed his last on 7 July 2021 at 7:30 am. In an acting career that spanned more than half a century (starting with Jwar Bhata in 1944 and ending with Quila in 1998), Dilip Kumar for many represented the gold standard in film acting. Dilip Kumar Ji will be remembered as a cinematic legend. He was blessed with unparalleled brilliance, due to which audiences across generations were enthralled. His passing away is a loss to our cultural world.