Happy birthday to Tragedy King Dilip Kumar, the legend of legends.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Dilip Kumar, better known as Tragedy King on 11th December, 2012. After the death of evergreen star Dev Anand, few days back at the age of 88 years, Dilip Kumar is the only living legend still in right humour who had adorned the golden age of Indian cinema. An institution by himself, Dilip Kumar had been a torch bearer in the world of romantic acting for the last 72 years. Born in 1922, Yusuf Khan, one of the greatest actors of bollywood films of all times had created new dimensions at every decade with his unique style of acting. Although his performance in tragic roles like Bimal Roy’s Devdas and Madhumati, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Musafir, and other landmark films had made him an icon of tragedy, he had proved his variation in comedy films, social films, action-oriented blockbusters. Directors like Bimal Roy, K. Asif, Tapan Sinha, Subhash Ghai, consider Dilip Kumar as the greatest actor of all times. He had made the characters immortal which he had played in his illustrious career. He had given extraordinary lips in landmark songs of the 50s and 60s sung by Mohammad Rafi like “madhuban me radhika nachere” and “do sitaron ka zameen par hai milan aaj ki raat” in the film Kohinoor, “ek shahenshah ne banwake haseen tajmahal”, “tere husn ka kya tareef karun”, “apni azadi ko hum hargese mita sakte nahi”, in the film Leader, “dilruba maine tere pyar me kya kya na kiya”, “koi sagar dilko behlata nahi” in the film Dil Diya Dard Liya, “aaj ki raat mere”, “aye hai bahare dekho” in the film Ram Aur Shyam, to name a few. Giant composer Naushad made the greatest contribution in the films of Dilip Kumar, although Shankar Jaikishan gave quality music in the films Yahudi and Daag, Salil Choudhury contributed in the film Madhumati and Musafir. Dilip Kumar had acted opposite all the leading actresses of 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, including Madhubala in Tarana, Mughal-i-Azam, Nargis in Babul, Andaz, Meena Kumari in Kohinoor, Azad, Footpath, Vaijayantimala in Madhumati, Ganga Jumna, Leader, Wahida Rehman in Dil Diya Dard Liya, Aadmi, Ram Aur Shyam, Saira Banu in Sagina, Gopi, to name a few. Even during the 80s, his character roles created new dimension in bollywood films. His performance in the film Mashal, Masdoor, Shakti, Karma, Vidhata had inspired the new generation of actors like Anil Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt and others. He has the record of getting the filmfare award for the best actor for the maximum number of times ( 8 times ) which had not been broken by even Shahrukh Khan till now. Dilip Kumar had not learned acting from any acting school yet the way he had made Sarat Chandra Chatterjee’s character Devdas immortal, the actors of the next generation consider him an institution by himself. He had played roles of even trade union leaders in the film Sagina, he was the first actor in bollywood films to perform in a double role in the film Ram Aur Shyam. He created a trend and films with double roles were created in the same lines as that of Ram Aur Shyam in Seeta Aur Geeta, Chaalbaaz, Kishen Kanhaiya. He received the highest civilian award given by Pakistan, Nishan –e- imtiaz which was previously received by only one Indian, that is the former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. He had also received Dadasaheb Phalke award for his contribution in bollywood films. It is not possible to highlight the contribution of the legend of legends in a small article, as he had created an image which made him indispensable over 70 years in bollywood films. Yet his journey is not over. Even in the present age directors like Subhash Ghai engage him with his new projects these days. Many veteran actors came to Dilip Kumar to greet him on his birthday in 2012. The viewers want Dilip Kumar to continue acting in bollywood films if his health permits. Viewers had got addicted to his soft tune of dialogue throwing and want him to reproduce the magic again.

Happy birthday to Dharmender.

Happy birthday to Dharmender. The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Dharmender on 8th December, 2012. 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. 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 Helen.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Helen on 19th Nov., 2012. She had remained an exceptional dancer and featured in majority of bollywood fllms in the 60s and 70s. She was probably one of the most indispensable figures in bollywood during 60s and 70s. Without her films like Gumnaam, Teesri Manzil, Jewel Thief, Inteqam, Carwan, Night in London, etc. would have been incomplete. She had acted opposite leading stars of the 60s and 70s, for example, in Gumnaam she acted opposite Pran, In Teesri Manzil she acted opposite Shammi Kapoor, in Jewel Thief she acted opposite Dev Anand, in Night in London opposite Johnny Walker to name a few. She in fact filled in the empty space created by prominent dancer Cuckoo in the 50s. One of her most memorable films included Gumnaam, which was released in 1965, where she played the role of one of the few persons who were taken to an isolated island. She was killed along with a number her friends by Tarun Bose in the film who was identified by Manoj Kumar at the end of the film. Her dance number in the songs “hum kale hai to kya hua dilwale hai” and “is duniya me jeena ho to” composed by Shankar Jaikishan were brilliant by every judging standards. She was put to test in her dance no. in the song “muqabla hum se na karo” in the film Prince along with Shammi Kapoor and Vaijayantimala. She did the western part while Vaijayantimala did the eastern part. Whenever she got a scope of performing opposite Shammi Kapoor her performance used to get a different dimension as he was the only male star in the 60s to dominate bollywood films with rock and roll dance performances. Both of them did well in the film Teesri Manzil. The song “o haseena zulfonwali” is remembered for the dance of both Helen and Shammi Kapoor. Helen got a villainish role in the film and trapped Shammi Kapoor in a murder case where the actual murderer was Prem Nath. Helen even got few roles of heroines in the 60s including the role in the film Pyar Hi Pyar where she acted opposite Mehmood, where the main roles were played by Dharmender and Vaiyantimala. Her prominent roles continued in the 70s, including her cameo in the song “piya tu ab tu aja” composed by RD Burman in the film Carwan, her role in the film Sholay, where her dance number in the song “mehbooba mehbooba” amazed the viewers. The villainish roles continued like the one in Big B’s film Don, where her song “yeh mera dil” became a runaway hit. Kareena Kapoor danced in the same item number as that of Helen when the film was remade by Farhan Akhtar, with Shahrukh Khan. Her other notable films include Mere Jeevan Saathi, Hindustani, Half Ticket, etc. She even acted in character roles in the 90s in films like Akela and Khamoshi. Her performance in the film Khamoshi had been appreciated by all section of viewers. In one article it is not possible to cover the contribution of Helen, who had dominated bollywood films of 60s and 70s. The admirers of Helen expect her to make more contribution in bollywood films in character roles as she has a lot acting still left in her.