Some words are overused, often in an improper context. For instance, it is a cliché to refer to just about everybody as being an institution. But it is quite appropriate for Dilip Kumar Sahab. He was indeed an institution. In fact, he was much more than merely a great actor. There is method acting, which is employed by actors the world over to play their characters in a special way. Very few people know that Dilip Sahab was the first actor to start method acting in the world. I don’t know if he himself was aware of it when he started his career with Jwar-Bhata in 1944? It happens. Like every breath that we took before oxygen was ‘discovered’ and named so, was nothing but oxygen only. Sometimes people develop something distinct on their own and start working on it. It is only later that they come to know what that process is called. Marlon Brando is generally considered to be the first method actor but he was seven to eight years junior to Dilip Sahab in his career.
What was happening in the Indian film industry at the time was not known to the outside world. Indian films were rarely shown abroad back then. There are many things, which originate in India but people from outside the country do not have any idea about it. For example, a few years ago, the US found out that neem contains antiseptic properties. But as I still remember, when I had rashes on my body as a child, my grandmother used to boil neem leaves and apply them. We have had many such traditions. One such tradition was started by Dilip Sahab in acting, which later came to be known as method acting. I do not know if Hindi cinema at large was aware of Stanislavski’s school of method acting in his time, but the style of acting that Dilip Kumar developed in 1944 still reflects in actors in 2021. It is an altogether different matter that these actors do not know where it came from because Dilip Kumar’s acting style has been passed on from generation to generation. It is like the wheels in our vehicles. All of us use them but we don’t know who invented them? Such has been the influence of Dilip Sahab on Indian actors. I cannot say the same about any other actor who inspired so many generations of actors.
There is a curious thing about acting. You can watch ten movies of one bad actor and still not know anything about him as a person. But if you watch a few films of a really good actor, you gradually start getting an idea of his real personality. Be it reel or real life of Dilip Sahab, dignity was the unmistakable hallmark of his personality. He never made frivolous remarks or indulged in loose talk. As he treated the elders with great respect and honour he treated younger people with love and affection in the same way. Ashok Kumar was about ten to 12 years senior to him and I have seen both of them together. Dilip Sahab always called him Ashok Bhaiya and talked to him with the utmost respect in the same way one should do to elders. Dilip Sahab was an epitome of the old-world tehzeeb, both on and offscreen. The culture that he represented is now extinct. People in general talk loose today and when we meet dignified people, with innate depth in their character and personality like Dilip Sahab, we think that they are from a bygone era. It is like the difference between a leather-bound, hardbound, library edition of a book and its paperback edition.
The first film that I saw at the age of six or seven was Dilip Sahab’s Aan (1952). I have always been his fan. It is a matter of great honour for me that I got the opportunity later in my career to work with him when I wrote films and dialogues for him. At the personal level also, we shared a very good relationship. He used to give a lot of respect and love to the people around him. His way of talking was so captivating that people just wanted to listen to him. Everyone who met him was in awe of him. I still remember when I went to meet him for the first time and was introduced to him, my hands were trembling. He was an excellent host also. There were many occasions when we used to sit together till 2 o’clock at night. He was a very dignified man with a complete personality.
A human being dies, but the work and sanskar he leaves behind remain in this world. Dilip Sahab’s acting in films such as Devdas (1955), Ganga Jamna (1961), Ram Aur Shyam (1967) or Shakti (1982) will always live on. But more than that, another thing will stay forever. Scores of Indian actors have learned a lot and taken inspiration from him. As long as his work continues to be reflected in the work of young actors, Dilip Sahab shall remain alive for us.
(This appeared in the print edition as "Dilip Kumar Diary")
(As told to Giridhar Jha)
Javed Akhtar is a poet, lyricist and screenwriter, who worked with the actor in films such as Shakti, Duniya and Mashaal