Happy Birthday Dilip Kumar

His first major hit was the 1947 film 'Jugnu'.

He appeared in many hits thereafter including the romantic melodramas 'Mela' (1948), 'Andaz' (1949), 'Deedar' (1951), 'Daag' (1954), 'Devdas' (1955), 'Yahudi' (1958) and 'Madhumati' (1958).

He also played lighthearted roles in films such as 'Aan' (1952), 'Azaad' (1955) and 'Kohinoor' (1960).

The movie, 'Mughal-e-Azam', as of 2008 was the second highest grossing film in Hindi film history.

David Lean offered him the role of Sherif Ali in his 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, but Kumar declined the part.

In 1981 he returned with the multi-starrer 'Kranti' which was the biggest hit of the year.

Dilip Kumar is married to Saira Banu.

In 1943, actress Devika Rani, who was also the wife of the founder of the Bombay Talkies film studio, Himanshu Rai, helped Khan's entry into the Bollywood film industry.

The original method actor - we wish Dilip Kumar a great birthday!

Muhammad Yusuf Khan, known by his stage name Dilip Kumar - has been called the ultimate 'method actor' by Satyajit Ray.

Starting his career 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.

The only other person to have equaled that feat is Shah Rukh Khan.

Dilip Kumar was born in Qissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar, British India (now Pakistan).

The family relocated to Bombay (now Mumbai) in the 1930s and in the early 1940s Yusuf Khan moved to Pune and started a canteen business and supplying dried fruits.

These films established his screen image as the Tragedy King".

In 1960 he portrayed Prince Salim in the historical film 'Mughal-e-Azam'.

The role eventually went to Omar Sharif, the Egyptian actor.

Dilip Kumar was born in 1922.

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.

He was born to a Hindko-speaking Peshawari family with twelve children.

His father, Lala Ghulam Sarwar, was a fruit merchant who owned large orchards in Peshawar and Deolali in Maharashtra near Nashik.

Devika Rani and her husband Svetoslav Roerich spotted Khan in one of Pune's Aundh military canteens.

Hindi Author Bhagwati Charan Varma gave him the screen name Dilip Kumar and gave him the leading role in his film 'Jwar Bhata' (1944).

In 1961 he produced and starred in 'Ganga Jamuna' in which he and his real-life brother Nasir Khan played the title roles.

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) where he played triple roles failing at the box office.

He took a five year hiatus from films from 1976 to 1981.

In 1991 he starred alongside veteran actor Raaj Kumar in 'Saudagar' which was his last successful film. In 1993 he won the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.