Hindi superstar Dilip Kumar has died in Mumbai at the age of 98. He had been ill this year and was admitted to hospital on June 30 suffering from breathlessness, according to widespread reports.
Tributes have been made to Kumar by prominent public figures and movies stars including Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Amitabh Bachchan. Scroll down to see some of those embedded.
Known as the ‘Tragedy King’, Kumar was one of India’s earliest and brightest stars. Kumar’s first film role came in 1944, but his breakout was the 1949 pic Andaz, in which he acted opposite Raj Kapoor, who had grown up in the same neighbourhood as him.
The 1950s saw a string of box office hits for Kumar that firmly established him as one of the biggest draws for audiences during that period. He became the first actor to win the Filmfare Best Actor Award, for 1952 romantic drama Daag, and he would go on to win the prize seven more times.
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His 1960 movie Mughal-e-Azam, the historical epic that starred Kumar as Prince Salim, became the biggest-grossing movie in Indian history and held the title for 11 years. Around the same time he was understood to have been offered the role of Sherif Ali in Lawrence Of Arabia by David Lean, but turned it down, with the part eventually going to Omar Shariff.
He also began to regularly produce throughout the 60s, cementing himself as a key figure both in front of and behind the camera.
The 1970s was a middling period for Kumar, with a string of box office flops, but he returned to success in the 1980s and worked steadily until the 2000s, when he became a member of Indian parliament.
The government of Maharashtra has said that Kumar will receive state burial honors. He is survived by his wife, the Bollywood actress Saira Banu.
Here are a selection of tributes paid to Kumar today:
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. Condolences to his family, friends and innumerable admirers. RIP.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 7, 2021
T 3958 – An institution has gone .. whenever the history of Indian Cinema will be written , it shall always be ‘before Dilip Kumar, and after Dilip Kumar’ ..
My duas for peace of his soul and the strength to the family to bear this loss .. 🤲🤲🤲
Deeply saddened .. 🙏— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) July 7, 2021
Saddened to learn of Dilip Kumar’s passing. I can never forget his generosity in giving his time to help raise funds for SKMTH when project launched. This is the most difficult time – to raise first 10% of the funds & his appearance in Pak & London helped raise huge amounts.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) July 7, 2021
A timeless legend.. His towering brilliance will continue to be an inspiration to actors all around the world. A huge loss for Indian cinema…Rest in peace #DilipKumar Sir. You will be terribly missed 🙏 pic.twitter.com/N2NWjazqKz
— Mahesh Babu (@urstrulyMahesh) July 7, 2021
Deeply saddened by the passing of Dilip Sahab. A genius actor who made such a huge impact in Indian cinema. An inspiration for generations to come. 🙏 #DilipKumar pic.twitter.com/hABPsu3WVR
— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) July 7, 2021
