Dastaan is a 1972 film produced and directed by B. R. Chopra. The film stars Dilip Kumar, Sharmila Tagore, Prem Chopra, Bindu, Sachin, Iftekhar, I. S. Johar and Madan Puri. The film's music is by Laxmikant Pyarelal.

Ploti[link]

Anil and Sunil are identical twin brothers. They have a friend named Meena who likes Sunil. As a child, Sunil gets separated from his family. None of the trio remembers the incident. Sunil is found by a man named Sahay, who re-names him Vishnu.

Vishnu Sahay (Dilip Kumar) grows up to become a reputed Judge. He has everything, money, fame, happiness and a seemingly devoted wife Mala (Bindu). However, he is blissfully unaware that Mala and his best friend Rajen (Prem Chopra) are having an affair behind his back. Meanwhile Anil ( also Dilip Kumar) has grown into a Don Juan. He is involved with a dancer and also flirts with Meena (Sharmila Tagore), who, however, wants nothing to do with him.

One day, Anil accidentally kills a man and runs to Mussoorie to hide from the cops. Judge Vishnu Sahay comes to the same hotel as Anil. When Anil sees Vishnu, he observes that they look alike. If Vishnu's facial hair and spectacles are removed, even the police will have a hard time distinguishing between him and Anil. Vishnu does not realize this. Anil spikes Vishnu's coffee and knocks him out. After removing Vishnu's facial hair and glasses, he checks out of the hotel as Vishnu. However, his plan turns out to be disastrous as Vishnu's car suffers an accident, killing Anil on the spot.

From the look of things, the police assume that Vishnu has died. Meanwhile, the real Vishnu is taken into custody as Anil after he gets up. He is, however, proved innocent in court. He sets out for home, expecting to surprise his wife. However, he is shocked to see that his wife and friend are celebrating his death. He learns of their adultery and leaves, distraught and dejected. Mala and Rajen are unaware of his return.

Vishnu comes back to Anil's house. Meena recognizes that he is in fact Sunil, but he cannot remember anything. She is perplexed as to why he is not responding to her. Vishnu re-enters the lives of his wife and her lover as Anil, and befriends them. One day, he invites them to see a play staged by himself. As they watch the play, they realize in horror that it is their own story. After realizing that Anil is Vishnu, Rajen attacks him. However, Vishnu has already placed some policemen on the spot and they promptly arrest Rajen for attempt to murder. Vishnu runs to his home, knowing that Mala would have gone there.

He finds her sitting calmly in a chair. He asks her to choose between death and the ignominy of living the rest of her life as an unfaithful wife. She says that she has already made a choice and shows an empty poison bottle in her hand. She dies in front of Vishnu. Just then, a sad Meena comes from behind him and places a hand on his shoulder, indicating that she knows everything now.

Cast[link]

• Dilip Kumar...... Anil/ Sunil a.k.a. Vishnu Sahay
• Sharmila Tagore...... Meena
• Bindu...... Mala
• Prem Chopra...... Mala's lover Rajen

External links[link]

• Dastaan at the Internet Movie Database

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Dilip Kumar
Dilip Kumar in 2006.
Born	Yusuf Khan (1922-12-11) December 11, 1922 (age 89) Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, British India
Residence	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Other names	Dilip Sahaab
Occupation	Actor, Producer, Director, Politician
Years active	1944–1998 (retired)
Religion	Islam
Spouse	Saira Banu (1966-present)
Signature

Dilip Kumar, born Muhammad Yusuf Khan on 11 December 1922, is an Indian actor and a former Member of Parliament. He is commonly known as "Tragedy King",^[1] and is described as "the ultimate method actor" by Satyajit Ray.^[2]

Starting his career with Jwar Bhata in 1944, Kumar's career has spanned five decades and over 60 films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest actors in the history of Hindi cinema.^[3][4][5] Kumar was the first actor to receive a Filmfare Best Actor Award and holds the record for the most number of Filmfare Awards won for that category with Shahrukh Khan; eight wins.^[6] He starred in films of a variety of genres such as the romantic Andaz (1949), the swashbuckling Aan (1952), the dramatic Devdas (1955), the comical Azaad (1955), the historical Mughal-e-Azam (1960) and the social Ganga Jamuna (1961).

In 1976, Kumar took a five-year break from film performances. In 1981, he returned with a character role in the film Kranti and continued his career playing central character roles in films such as Shakti (1982), Karma (1986) and Saudagar (1991). His last film was Qila in 1998. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 1991 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994 for his contributions towards Indian cinema. Dilip Kumar has acted with actress Vyjayanthimala the most, where they both had acted seven films together including the former's home production Gunga Jumna resulting great on-screen chemistry and alleged affair between them.^[7][8]

Early life[link]

Dilip Kumar was born as Muhammad Yusuf Khan on 11 December 1922,^[9] in Peshawar, British India (now in Pakistan). He was born to a Hindko speaking Peshawari family. His father, Lala Ghulam Sarwar, was a fruit merchant who owned orchards in Peshawar and Nashik in Maharashtra, India. The family relocated to Bombay (now Mumbai) in the late 1920s. Dilip Kumar started working as a canteen supplier in Pune circa 1940.^[10]

In 1943, actress Devika Rani, and her second husband Svetoslav Roerich spotted Khan in Aundh military canteens, Pune.^[10] and helped Khan's entry into the Bollywood film industry. Hindi author Bhagwati Charan Varma gave him the screen name Dilip Kumar and offered him the leading role in his film Jwar Bhata (1944).

Career[link]

His first film with Nisar Bhai and Hamed Bhai Jwar Bhata was released in 1944 which went unnoticed. His first major hit was the 1947 film Jugnu. He went onto appear in many hit films including Mela (1948), Andaz (1949), Deedar (1951), Devdas (1955), Yahudi (1958) and Madhumati (1958). These films established his screen image as the "Tragedy King".^[11] Together with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand he was the biggest star in Bollywood in the 1950s. He starred alongside Raj Kapoor in Andaz (1949) and Dev Anand in Insaniyat (1955). He formed popular on-screen pairings with many of the top actresses at the time including Nargis, Kamini Kaushal, Meena Kumari, Madhubala and Vyjanthimala.

Depressed after playing many tragic roles his psychiatrist suggested he take on ligher roles which he played in films such as Aan (1952), Azaad (1955) and Kohinoor (1960).^[12] In 1960 he portrayed Prince Salim in the historical film Mughal-e-Azam which as of 2008 was the second highest grossing film in Hindi film history.^[13]

In 1961 he produced and starred in Ganga Jamuna in which he and his real-life brother Nasir Khan played the title roles. This was the only film he produced. In 1962 British director David Lean offered him the role of Sherif Ali in his 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, but Kumar declined the part.^[14] The role eventually went to Omar Sharif, the Egyptian actor. His next film Leader (1964) was below average at the box office.^[15] In 1967 Dilip Kumar played a dual role of twins separated at birth in the hit film Ram Aur Shyam. His career slumped in the 1970s with films like Dastaan (1970) and Bairaag (1976), the latter in which he played triple roles failing at the box office.^[16][17] He took a five year hiatus from films from 1976 to 1981.^[10]

In 1981 he returned with the multi-starrer Kranti which was the biggest hit of the year.^[18] He went onto play character roles in hit films including Shakti (1982), Vidhaata (1982), Mashaal (1984) and Karma (1986).^[18] In 1991 he starred alongside veteran actor Raaj Kumar in Saudagar which was his last successful film.^[19] In 1993 he won the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1996 he was attached to make his directorial debut with a film titled Kalinga but the film was shelved. In 1998 he made his last film appearance in the unsuccessful film Qila where once again he played dual roles as an evil landowner and his twin brother investigating his death. His films Mughal-e-Azam and Naya Daur were fully colorized and re-released in 2004 and 2008 respectively.

Films refused[link]

Dilip Kumar was very choosy, and turned down lead roles in many films which eventually were released to great box office success, including Lawrence of Arabia, Pyaasa, The Rains Came and Sangam.

Voices[link]

During his Bollywood career, Dilip Kumar was most often voiced by Mohammed Rafi. Others who provided his voice were:

• Talat Mahmood
• Mukesh (until 1958), who was also the main voice of Kumar's competitor Raj Kapoor.
• Kishore Kumar was chosen to playback the song "Saala Main To Saab Bangaya" for the film Sagina(1974).

Public life[link]

Kumar has been active in efforts to bring the people of India and Pakistan closer together. He has been a member of the upper house of Parliament since 2000.^[10]

He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994. In 1998 he was awarded the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, the highest civilian award conferred by the government of Pakistan. He is the second Indian to receive the award. At the time of the Kargil War, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray demanded Kumar return his Nishan-e-Imtiaz, arguing that "He must return Nishan-e-Imtiaz following that country's blatant aggression on Indian soil."^[20] Kumar refused, saying:

"This award was given to me for the humane activities to which I have dedicated myself. I have worked for the poor, I have worked for many years to bridge the cultural and communal gaps between India and Pakistan. Politics and religion have created these boundaries. I have striven to bring the two people together in whatever way I could. Tell me, what does any of this have to do with the Kargil conflict?"^[21]

Personal life[link]

Kumar married actress and beauty queen Saira Banu in year 1966 when he was aged 44 and she was 22. Dilip Kumar secretly married a pakistani woman Asma in the early eighties but divorced her when Saira Banu refused to accept the marriage^[22]. His brothers are Nasir Khan, Ehsan Khan and Aslam Khan.^[23] Kumar's younger brother Nasir Khan was also an actor and appeared opposite him in Ganga Jamuna (1961) and Bairaag (1976).

Dilip Kumar on Twitter[link]

Around September 10, 2011 it surfaced that the health of Dilip Kumar is worsening. Some incredible tweets even mistakenly spread news of his death.^[24] Later Dilip Kumar's wife Saira Banu, made a public statement that the actor is good in health and in high spirits. Finally, Dilip Kumar launched his Twitter account. His first tweet was on his 89th Birthday on 11 Dec. 2011. His tweets are eloquent and inspirational.

Legacy and awards[link]

Dilip Kumar is widely considered to be one of the greatest actors in the history of Hindi cinema.^[3][4][5] Kumar holds the Guinness World Record for having won the maximum number of awards by an Indian actor.^[25] He has received many awards throughout his career, including 8 Filmfare Best Actor awards and 19 nominations.^[26] He was honoured with the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.^[27] The Government of India honoured him with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994^[21] — the highest award for cinematic excellence in India. In 1980, he was appointed Sheriff of Mumbai, an honorary position. In 1991, he was awarded Padma Bhushan from the Government of India.^[28] In 1997, Kumar was awarded, Nishan-e-Imtiaz, a high civilian award conferred by the Government of Pakistan.

He received in 1997 the NTR National Award. He was also awarded CNN-IBN Indian of the Year - Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. From some years large section of his fan and people in general are demanding Bharat Ratna for Kumar.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Dilip Kumar at the Internet Movie Database

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dilip Kumar

• Dilip Kumar Twitter Account