Dilip Kumar passes away: Rare pictures of last of the legends

Legendary actor Dilip Kumar passes away on July 07, 2021 after prolonged illness, his family and doctors treating him said. 'Tragedy king' Dilip Kumar was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Hinduja Hospital, a non-COVID-19 facility. "He passed away due to prolonged illness at 7.30 am," Dr Jalil Parkar, who had been treating the actor, told PTI.

One of Indian cinema's iconic actor, Dilip Kumar passes away at 98 on July 07, 2021. He was born as Muhammad Yousuf Khan. Let's take a trip down the life of the 'ultimate method actor' of Hindi cinema.

Born into a Hindko-speaking Peshawari Pashtun family of 12 children, Dilip Kumar was born in Peshawar, now in Pakistan.

Around 1940, Dilip Kumar left home for Pune and he was spotted by Devika Rani, and her husband Himanshu Rai (owners of Bombay Talkies) in Aundh military canteens Pune, following which he was cast in his first film Jwar Bhata in 1944.

Hindi author Bhagwati Charan Varma gave him the screen name Dilip Kumar.

Dilip Kumar got his breakthrough role with Mehboob Khan's Andaz (1949) in which he starred alongside Raj Kapoor and Nargis.

He went on to have success in the 1950s with playing tragic roles in films like Jogan (1950), Deedar (1951), Daag (1952), Devdas (1955), Yahudi (1958) and Madhumati (1958).

These films established his screen image as the "Tragedy King". Seen here with Dilip Kumar and others is late Amjad Khan.

It is believed that Dilip Kumar is a polyglot who speaks a number of languages, including Pashto, Hindko, Urdu, Hindi and English.

Dilip Kumar was the first actor to win the Filmfare Best Actor Award for Daag and went onto win it again for Devdas.