Happy Birthday Dilip Saab!

With a career spanning six decades and more than 60 films in his kitty, not to mention the highest number of Filmfare award wins (a record he shares only with Shah Rukh Khan), he is hailed by critics, contemporaries and audiences as the greatest actor in Hindi cinema.
And even as he brings in his 91st birthday today, Dilip Kumar, born Muhammad Yousuf Khan, continues to inspire generations of actors setting foot in the film industry.
In this picture captured by ace lensman Jagdish Aurangabadkar on the sets of the 1981 film Kranti, the thespian is very much in character as he poses along with his co-actors Shatrughan Sinha and Manoj ‘Bharat’ Kumar.
Produced and directed by Manoj Kumar, the film marked Dilip Kumar’s return to films after a gap of five years. Kranti, like Manoj’s other films, was in keeping with the actor-producer-director’s patriotic image. Set in 19th century British India, it told the story of two men – Dilip and Manoj - who lead the fight for independence.
For Manoj, who had idolised Dilip and even named himself after the superstar’s character in Shabnam (1949), it was a dream come true to direct and act with someone he had admired so deeply. A multi-starrer in the true sense of the term, Kranti had a large cast including Hema Malini, Parveen Babi, Sarika, Shashi Kapoor, Prem Chopra, Madan Puri and Paintal among others. Shatrughan, who played a freedom fighter in the film, is best remembered from the song Chana Zor Garam where he and Hema Malini masquerade as street singers out to make a quick buck.