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Saturday, December 6, 2025
Tragedy King Dilip Kumarsahab gave the maximum blockbusters in last 100 years
The nation is shocked by demise of Tragedy King Dilip Kumar sahab's death at 99 years. The success rate of Dilip Kumar in Bollywood films is incomparable.
Bollywood films had given superstars of different dimensions over the last 70 years. Right from Ashok Kumar to Rajender Kumar, Amitabh Bacchan to Shahrukh Khan, the superstars had entertained the audience and created records at box office over the years. These days viewers feel Salman Khan is the badshah of 100 crore, 200 crore, 300 crore club as his films Dabaang did business of 140 crores, Dabaang 2 158 crores, Ready 125 crores, Bodyguard 148 crores, Ek Tha Tiger 198 crores, Kick 232 crores, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo 219 crores, Sultan 300 crores and Bajrangi Bhaijaan 320 crores.
Even after the records of these superstars are compared, there is incomparable record with one superstar of the millennium, that is Tragedy King Dilip Kumar. One of the reasons why the records are incomparable is due to the span of time that the records are spread over. Dilip Kumar was a superstar in the 1940s. He remained a superstar in 1950s. By the 1960s he became a legend. In the 1980s he became a phenonmenon.
During Dilip Kumar’s time, success of films were measured in the context of number of weeks the films used to do business at box office. Now let us see the success in the context of the box office records.
Dilip Kumar’s Mela in 1948 was a blockbuster hit doing business for more than 50 weeks and had been called a golden jubilee hit. SU Sunny directed the film. The music was composed by Naushad Ali. The legendary combination of Dilip Kumar, Naushad Ali, lyricist Shakeel Badayani and singer Rafisahab was created by that time.
Dilip Kumar’s Andaz in 1949 was also a blockbuster hit and it remained the 2nd biggest blockbuster in 1949 after Raj Kapoor’s Barsaat. Andaz was directed by Mehboob Khan and had Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Nargis in the lead roles. The music was composed by Naushad Ali and the film was declared a golden jubilee hit which ran for more than 50 weeks.
Dilip Kumar’s Babul in 1950 was a silver jubilee hit which ran for more than 25 weeks. It was directed by SU Sunny. Naushad Ali composed the music of the film. Dilip Kumar and Nargis played the lead roles in the film.
Dilip Kumar’s Deedar in 1951 was again a blockbuster and golden jubilee hit running for more than 50 weeks. Dilip Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Nargis played the lead roles. Nitin Bose directed the film and the music was composed by Naushad Ali.
Aan was Dilip Kumar’s first coloured and India’s first coloured film. In 1952, the blockbuster films was directed by Mehboob Khan. It was a multistarrer film with Dilip Kumar, Murad, Premnath, Nimmi and Nadira in the lead roles. The music was composed by Naushad Ali. By that time the equation was Dilip Kumar + Naushad Ali + Shakeel Badayani +Rafisahab = magic. The film did business of more than 50 weeks and became greatest blockbuster of the decade.
Dilip Kumar’s Azad and Uran Khatola did business of more than 25 weeks in 1955 and were declared silver jubilees. Azad had Meena Kumari and Dilip Kumar in lead roles and music composed by C Ramchandran. Uran Khatola had Dilip Kumar and Nimmi in lead roles. SU Sunny directed the film and the music was composed by Naushad Ali.
Dilip Kumar’s Naya Daur in 1957 was a golden jubilee hit running for more than 50 weeks. BR Chopra and Yash Chopra were involved in production and direction and the film was revolutionary one in the history of Indian films. OP Nayyar composed the music of the film. Dilip Kumar Vaijayantimala, Ajit and Johny Walker were in lead roles.
Dilip Kumar’s Madhumati in 1958 was a golden jubilee hit running for more than 50 weeks. Bimal Roy directed the film and music was composed by Salil Choudhury. Dilip Kumar Vaijayantimala Johny Walker, Jayant were in lead roles. The film swept all the awards at filmfare in 1958 including best actor by Dilip Kumar, best composer by Salil Choudhury, best director by Bimal Roy.
Dilip Kumar’s Paigham in 1959 was a silver jubilee hit running for more than 25 weeks. Dilip Kumar, Raj Kumar and Vaijayantimala were in lead roles. The music was composed by C Ramchandran.
Dilip Kumar’s Kohinoor in 1960 was a golden jubilee hit running for more than 50 weeks. Dilip Kumar Meena Kumari, Kumkum and Jeevan were in lead roles. The music was composed by Naushad Ali, and Rafisahab’s “madhuban be radhika nachere” still is considered phenomenal rendition of raga style music in films.
Dilip Kumar’s Mughal-i-Azam in 1960 was an all time blockbuster. It was a diamond jubilee hit running for more than 100 weeks. It created such a brilliant record at box office, that Sholay only broke the record in 1975. Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Prithviraaj Kapoor, Durga Khote were in lead roles. The film was directed by K Asif and music composed by Naushad Ali.
Dilip Kumar’s Ganga Jumna in 1961 was a golden jubilee hit running for more than 50 weeks. Nitin Bose directed the film. Dilip Kumar and Vaijayantimala were in the lead roles. The music was composed by Naushad Ali.
Dilip Kumar’s Ram Aur Shyam in 1967 was a golden jubilee hit running for more than 50 weeks. T Chanakya directed the film. Dilip Kumar, Mumtaz, Pran and Wahida Rehman were in lead roles. The music was composed by Naushad Ali. Dilip Kumar for the first time acted in a double role.
In the 1980s Dilip Kumar gave 2 golden jubilee hits, one was Shakti in 1982 and the other was Karma in 1986.
Shakti had Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachan, Rakhee, Smita Patil, Amrish Puri in lead roles. The film was directed by Ramesh Sippy. Karma had Dilip Kumar, Nutan, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher in lead roles. Subhash Ghai directed the film and Laxmikant Pyarellal composed music of the film.
So in a career of Dilip Kumar of 62 films, more than 25 films ending up as diamond jubilee, platinum jubilee, golden jubilee and silver jubilee is incomparable. India is indebted to Tragedy King for the business he gave over last 80 years. Only the record of Showman Raj Kapoor and in Bengal industry Mahanayak Uttam Kumar can come close to Dilip Kumar. Dilip Kumar always remained a phenomenon.
Filmlovers wish happy birth anniversary to handsome macho star Dharmenderji
The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birth anniversary to Dharmender on 8th December, 2025. He is one of the living legends of bollywood. In 2011, he acted in the film Yaamla Pagla Diwana with Bobby Deol and Sunny Deol, and the film did excellent business. But he promoted his daughter Esha Deol’s film in the later part of 2011, which did mediocre business. In 2013 he acted in the film Yaamla Pagla Deewana 2, with sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol.
He had acted in more than 300 films and bollywood industry was heavily dependent on the star in the 60s and 70s. He started his journey with romantic films. His successful romantic films included Phool Aur Pathar with Meena Kumari, Mamta with Suchitra Sen, Mere Humdum Mere Dost with Sharmila Tagore, Aye Din Bahar Ke with Asha Parekh, Pyar Hi Pyar with Vaijayantimala, to name a few. Rafi’s songs picturized on Dharmender like “gar tum bhula na doge,” “ na ja kahin ab na ja”, “o majhi chal”, “dil kahen ruk ja”, “aaj mausam bara beimaan hai”, etc., had remained evergreen gems. His combination with legendary singer Mohammad Rafi was evergreen. As he acted in the production and direction of different legends in the 60s, including Bimal Roy, Chetan Anand, Asit Sen, etc., he gave lips in the songs of Rafi composed by different composers. Some of the examples include “aap ke haseen rukh” composed by OP Nayyar in the film Baharen Phir Bhi Ayegi, “dekha hai teri ankhome” composed by Shankar Jaikishan in the film Pyar hi Pyar, “chalkaye jam” composed by Laxmikant Pyarellal in the film Mere Humdum Mere Dost, “tere paas aake” composed by Ravi in the film Aankhe, “in baharon me akela na phiro” composed by Roshan in the film Mamta, to name a few.
He played a different innings in the 70s. His image of action hero created revolution in bollywood films. He had a very muscular physic and created a trend of actors who involved themselves in exercises. His discipline had been followed by the actors of the next generation like Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan and others. His successful films in the 70s included Jheel Ke Us Paar, Jugnu, Sholay, Dream Girl, etc.
His combination with Hema Malini is considered as one of the most colourful onscreen combination after Raj Kapoor Nargis and Dilip Kumar Vaijayantimala. Dharmender had acted in more than 20 films with Hema Malini, most of which were super hit. The most renowned films included Raja Jani, Naya Zamana, Sholay, Charas, Seeta Aur Geeta, Burning Train, Dream Girl, etc.
Dharmender acted in off-beat films as well. The best example was Gulzar’s Kinara. He was the husband of Hema Malini in the film who was a noted classical dancer. He was killed due to an accident with the car of Jeetender in the film. Bhupinder Singh’s song picturised on Dharmender titled “ek hi khwab kai baar dekha hai maine” remains as one of the greatest off-beat creations of RD Burman. His performance in the film Maa, based on the life of elephant requires special mention. He took a young elephant away from his mother to use him in Circus. The mother elephant revolted and killed Dharmender’s mother Nirupa Roy in the film. Dharmender’s patent dialogue “maa kasam”, “kamine”, etc., were memorized by youths of the 70s.
Both his sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol are successful actors of bollywood films. Dharmender still has acting left in him and the viewers expect him to carry on the marathon innings that he had started 50 years back.
Happy birthday to Sharmila Tagoreji the romantic star of Indian films
The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to legendary actress Sharmila Tagoreji on 8th December 2025. Her hit films like Kashmir Ki Kali opposite Shammi Kapoorji, Waqt opposite Shashi Kapoorji, Amanush, Anand Ashram opposite Uttam Kumarji, Mausam opposite Sanjeev Kumarji are still remembered by her admirers.
Dharmender and Sharmila Tagore had acted in many bollywood films together and in most of the cases the films had become extremely successful. Their film Mere Humdum Mere Dost became hit mainly due to the melodious music composed by LP in the film. Rafi’s songs like “na ja, kahin ab na ja”, “hui shaam unka”, etc. became landmark hits in the late 60s.
They did very well in the film Satyakam directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Dharmender played the role of an engineer who came to know the crude reality relating to the corruption in the relative sector. He married Sharmila Tagore whose modesty was outraged and there was nobody to marry. Dhamender received the acclaimation of critics for his good performance in the film.
Both of them showed their comedy skills in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film Chupke Chupke which was the remake of Uttam Kumar’s film Chodobeshi. Dharmender was a Professor of Botany who pretended to be the driver of Om Prakash and ran away with Sharmila. Big B was asked the play the role of the Professor of Botany and he did the acting to perfection and got ultimately engaged with Jaya Bacchan and got married to her. SD Burman’s music was successful with songs like “ab ke sajan”, “chupke chupke” sung by Lata and “saregama” sung by Rafi and Kishore.
Both of them did well in the film Yakeen, where again the music was excellent. Rafi’s song “gar tum bhula na doge” became big hit in that age. With the advent of action films Dharmender got involved in big budget films like Sholay, Jugnu, Charas, etc., and Sharmila Tagore concentrated to soft romantic films like Mausam, Dooriyan, etc., with Sanjeev Kumar, Uttam Kumar and others.
Yet the viewers accepted the pair of Dharmender and Sharmila Tagore both in the soft romantic films and comedy films.
The films should be restored and preserved.
Dharmenderji and Jeetenderji careers were enhanced by superhit Rafisahab songs in combination with LP
Rafisahab shaped the careers of Dharmender and Jeetender in the 1960s where music was by LP.
Rafisahab is remembered on his birth anniversary in December 2021 and death anniversary on 31st July 2021. Laxmikant Pyarellal faced the greatest challenge in establishing their career in Bollywood films in the 1960s. There were a number of reasons for that. Firstly a huge number of legendary composers were dominating Bollywood films in the 1960s ranging from Shankar Jaikishan to Naushad Ali, Madanmohan Kohli to Roshanlal Nagrath, C Ramchandran to OP Nayyar, Salil Choudhury to SD Burman, Vasant Desai to Kalyanji Anandji, to name a few. The list just goes on. Most of these legends were specialists in their own area. LP had to compose music having identity of their own which was very difficult. They faced the acid test in the early 1960s and late 1960s and became famous. Rafi Sahab was one of the biggest contributors in the careers of LP in the 1960s. The article speaks about the contribution of Dharmender, LP and Rafi Sahab and also Jeetender, LP and Rafi Sahab in the 1960s.
Here is the list of the films in which LP composed music in the 1960s.
1963
1. Harischandra Taramati 2. Parasmani
1964
3. Aaya Toofan 4. Dosti 5. Mr X In Bombay
6. Sant Gyaneshwar
7. Sati Savitri
1965
8. Boxer
9. Hum Sub Chor Hain
10. Lootera
11. Shriman Funtoosh
1966
12. Aasra
13. Aaye Din Bahar Ke
14. Chhota Bhai
15. Daaku Mangal Singh
16. Dillagi
17. Laadla
18. Mere Lal
19. Naag Mandir
20. Pyar Kiye Ja
21. Sau Saal Baad
1967
22. Anita
23. Chhaila Babu
24. Duniya Nachegi
25. Farz
26. Jaal
27. Milan
28. Milan Ki Raat
29. Night In London
30. Patthar Ke Sanam
31. Shagird
32. Taqdeer
1968
33. Baharon Ki Manzil
34. Izzat
35. Mere Hamdam Mere Dost
36. Raja Aur Rank
37. Sadhu Aur Shaitaan
38. Spy In Rome
1969
39. Aansoo Ban Gaye Phool
40. Anjana
41. Aaya Sawan Jhoom Ke
42. Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke
43. Do Bhai
44. Do Raaste
45. Inteqaam
46. Jeene Ki Raah
47. Jigri Dost
48. Madhavi
49. Mera Dost
50. Meri Bhabhi
51. Pyaasi Sham
52. Saajan
53. Satyakam
54. Shart
55. Wapas
1970
56. Aan Milo Sajna
57. Abhinetri
58. Bachpan
59. Darpan
60. Devi
61. Himmat
62. Humjoli
63. Jawab
64. Jeevan Mrityu
65. Khilona
66. Maa Aur Mamta
67. Man Ki Aankhen
68. Mastana
69. Pushpanjali
70. Sharafat
71. Suhana Safar
LP and Rafi Sahab combination stormed Bollywood with the films Parasmani in 1963 and Dosti in 1964. Rafisahab’s songs “wo jab yaad aye” in Parasmani and songs “chahunga mai tujhe”, “rahi manwa dukhki chinta”, “janewalon zara”, etc. in Dosti rocked Bollywood. LP received the first filmfare award in 1964 for their composition of music in the film Dosti.
For Dharmender LP composed music in 1966 in the film Aye Din Bahaar Ke. Rafi Sahab’s song “mere dushman” became smash hit. In 1967, LP composed music in the film Farz of Jeetender. All the songs of Rafi Sahab like “mast baharon ka mai aashiq”, “tumse o haseena”, “baar baar din ye aye” became smash hits.
In 1968, LP composed music in Dharmender’s films Baharon Ki Manzil, Mere Humdum Mere Dost and Izzat. In the film Izzat, Rafi Sahab’s song “loote dil pe diya jalta nahi hum kya karen” was a masterpiece. Mere Humdum Mere Dost had super hit songs of Rafi Sahab including “najaa kahin ab na jaa”, “chalkaye jam”, “huyi sham unka”, to name a few. In Baharon Ki Manzil all the songs were sung by Lata as they were picturized on Meena Kumari.
In 1969, LP composed music in Dharmender’s films Satyakam and Aya Sawaan Jhumke. Rafi Sahab’s songs like “majhi chal”, “awa sawan jhumke”, and other songs became super hit. LP composed music in 1969 in Jeetender’s films Jeene Ki Raah, Dharte Kahen Pukarke and Jigri Dost. All the films became super hit. One of the reasons for the success included the splendid music. Rafi Sahab’s songs in Dharti Kahe Pukarke included the title song “dharti kahe pukarke”. Jigri Dost had fast numbers of Rafi Sahab like “mere desh me pawan chale purwayi”, “raat suhaani jag rahi hai”, “dil me kya hai”, “phool hai baharon ka”, to name a few. Jeene Ki Raah fetched LP the other filmfare award in 1969. Rafi Sahab’s were smash hits like “aane se uski aye bahar”, “aa mere humjoli aa”, “ek banjara hai”, ‘chanda ko dhundte” to name a few.
In 1970, LP composed music in Dharmender’s film Jeevan Mrityu. Rafi Sahab’s song “jhilmil sitaron ka aangan hoga” became a runaway hit. LP composed music in Jeetender’s films Humjoli, Himmat and Jawab. Rafi Sahab’s songs in the film Humjoli became bumper hit like “dhal gaye din”, “tik tik tik”, “haye re haye”, “chal shuru ho ja”, to name a few. All the songs of Himmat became bumper hit like “hai shukr kit u hai ladka”, “maan jayiye maan jaiye”, “das gayi nagin ki zulf teri”, to name a few. In Jawab, both of Rafisahab’s songs “chali kahan hansti gaati” and “kis karan jogan jog liya” became hit.
By the early 1970s LP emerged as a leading composer in Bollywood music. So they started composing music in the films of Rishi Kapoor, Sanjeev Kumar, Shashi Kapoor and every prominent stars of the 1970s and 1980s. But their launching pad was made with the combination of Rafi Sahab in the films of Dharmender and Jeetender. All these songs and films should be restored.
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