Indian movie actor Dilip Kumar is one of the greatest actors ever to grace the Indian silver screen. Dilip Kumar was an established name to reckon with the Hindi movie world in the 50`s and 60`s. His unique style of acting has inspired many upcoming actors and till the date the youths tried to imitate him in many cases. Dilip Kumar was born in 11th December 1922 in Peshawar as Yusuf Khan in a Pathan Family. His father was a fruit merchant there and in later days moved to Mumbai and set up business there. Khan`s childhood was not so smooth. After a small controversy with his father he ran away to Pune and started to work in a British Army canteen and later set up his own fruit stall. From a young age Yusuf was fond of ghazals and was himself a good singer and sitar player. He even did voice-over in some of the Hrishikesh Mukherjee`s film.

In the 40`s Yusuf was initiated to the world of films by the leading actress of those days Devika Rani, who was also the proprietor of the famous studio Bombay Talkies. Yusuf who was re-christened Dilip Kumar by a famed Hindi novelist made his debut in their film `Jwar Bhatta` in 1944. He became successful as a hero opposite singing actress Noorjehan in the film `Jugnu` in the year 1947. In his next venture `Mela` in the year 1948 he played the doomed lover and then Mahboob Khan`s `Andaz` came in 1949. This was a love triangle opposite superstars Nargis and Raj Kapoor, which became a big hit and elevated him to a super star level at one chance. The next three years saw him in tragic roles very similar to his role in Mela in films like Babul, Arzoo, Jogan, Deedar, Udan Khatola and Bimal Roy`s unforgettable super hit `Devdas`. The release of a number of tragic films earned him the title of the `Tragedy King` as well. He had a well-moulding voice and with his naturalistic emoting conveyed through changing expressions he gave a new meaning to Hindi films and became a role model to young aspirants as well as established ones.

50`s and some part of 60`s saw his prime time along with Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand. At that time he has awarded with filmfare awards many times. Dilip Kumar was married to Saira Bano who was half of his age. Though he married second time to Asma but it was a short lived one. After `Ram Aur Shyam`, his career suffered a drawback in the 70`s. No other film clicked at the box office and Dilip reduced work to one or two films at a time. By the end of 70`s he took a complete break from films for some years. He became involved in various other interests like literature, theatre and comparative religions. But he made a triumphant return to Hindi cinema in the 1980s in two big hits, Manoj Kumar`s `Kranti` in the year 1981 and Ramesh Sippy`s `Shakti` in the year 1982 in which the latter bagged him yet another Filmfare award. The success followed by Subhash Ghai`s `Vidhaata`, `Karma` and `Saudagar` in 1991 which were equally successful.

The Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar is a living legend of Indian Cinema. He has been awarded filmfare awards for best actor for `Daag` in 1953 and consecutively for `Azad` in 1955, `Devdas` in 1956, `Naya Daur` in 1957 etc. His other successful films during this time were `Mughal- e- Azam` in the year 1960, `Madhumati` and `Ganga Jamuna` which include one of the best performances in his career. This list also contains the name of `Ram aur Shyam`, which was released in the year of 1967. He has been honored with the filmfare lifetime achievement award in1993 and the Prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award in 1995 for his contributions. In a career spanning over five decades this veteran actor with his fine performances has found a place in the world of Hindi films. He loves soccer even more than films. The aging actor now leads a retired life with full energy and style.