Saquib Salim

Dilip Kumar, in his autobiography, writes,

“I have always strongly endorsed the necessity for actors to possess a reasonable degree of social responsibility. The actor who is adored by millions of people owes something to the society, which has given him an elevated and highly respected position.”

It is on this principle that he led his life. He showed his humane side and commitment to society by helping the visually challenged persons.

When Nitin Bose offered him a role of a blind in 1951 film, Deedar, Dilip was in a fix. He could not determine how a blind person acted in front of a camera. Filmmaker Mehboob khan came to his rescue with an idea that Dilip should find a blind beggar at Bombay Central Railway Station and sit with him daily. Dilip did the same.

One fine day, another blind beggar visited the first one and as soon as Dilip spoke, he asked, “Who are you? You sound like an actor whose film I have seen recently.”  Dilip was shocked and asked the beggar, “How did you see the film? You cannot see.” To which he replied, “You don’t have to see a film; you can hear and feel a film if you have a heart to feel. Hum dekh nahi sakte lekin hum soch sakte, mehsoos kar sakte, hans sakte, ro sakte hein.”

This incident affected Dilip to the core. Years later, Vijay Merchant, former Indian Cricket Captain, came up to him with an offer to chair National Association of the Blind (NAB). He writes that when the proposal came to him, “It was the beggar’s face that came before my eyes and I felt I should not shirk my responsibility for want of time or patience. A voice inside me said that I should go whole hog and make the NAB self-sufficient and resourceful enough to help as many sightless people as possible to lead their lives with dignity and the self-respect that comes with self-reliance.”

 Dilip, as NAB chairman, ran a special beneficiary train from Pune to Mumbai. In which, he travelled with common people. People would throng at this opportunity of meeting their favourite star on the journey. In 1960, when the first such train was run Dilip donated Rs. 50,000 and encouraged others to donate. The sale of tickets and donations brought huge funds to NAB.

Each year, Dilip invited many more film personalities on board the train. Often comedian Johny Walker would steal the show with his wit and humour. People would come with home made food to serve their star as he ate with them, talked with them in their mother tongues - Tamil, Telugu, Konkani, Gujarati, Bengali and, of course, Punjabi, English, Hindi and Urdu. Saira Banu, his wife was of course, as another star attraction on the journey.

Dilip wondered, “I do not know if it is in my genes or if it is something I have assimilated from the environment I was brought up in. It gives me great contentment and joy to espouse a good cause.”

The loss of Dilip Kumar is not only a loss of a great actor but a loss of a great human being who represented the spirit of humanity.