What are three of Dilip Kumar’s most iconic films?

 The legendary actor Dilip Kumar’s three most iconic films among his several iconic films are:

Devdas:

Dilip Kumar’s acting in this film is considered as one among his best performances. It has been included in the list of Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films. Dilip Kumar's acting is one of the 25 Greatest Performances of the Indian Cinema.

Devdas was released in 1955, Dilip Kumar was in the titular role alongside side Suchitra Sen as Parvathi / Paru and Vyjayanthimala as Chandramukhi. It was directed and produced by Bimal Roy. This film won National Film Award and Dilip Kumar won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.

Mughal-e-Azam:

It was released in 1960. This film revolves around the love story of Mughal Prince Salim and the court dancer Anarkali. Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Madhubala were in the leading roles. K. Asif directed and produced the film. The film had broken all box-office records and remained as the highest grossing Indian film for 15 years. It was the most expensive Indian film made until then. It received numerous awards, highly got praised from the audience and the critics for its grand settings and standout performances of the main cast.

Mughal-e-Azam was the first Hindi black and white film which was digitally coloured and the first film which was re-released in theatres. This film is considered as one of the greatest and the most successful films of Bollywood.

In the same year, Dilip Kumar was nominated for 2 Filmfare Awards for two films Mughal-e-Azam and Kohinoor and he won Filmfare for the film Kohinoor.

Shakti :

In this film a great performance was given by Dilip Kumar as DCP Ashwini Kumar, a honest police officer who did the role of a father for Amitabh Bachchan. This is the only film in which the two legendary actors, Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan starred together.

Shakti was released in 1982. Ramesh Sippy directed the film, Rakhee, Smita Patil were also in the leading roles. Shakti is considered as one of the greatest films of the Indian cinema.

Dilip Kumar’s performance in the film Shakti remains in the viewer's heart, he won Filmfare Award for Best Actor.

Dilip Kumar had given outstanding performances in almost all his films. He did different types of roles as a leading hero and also in character roles. In character roles too he was striking on the screen in front of his fellow actors. His super quality performances are always memorable and they go on impressing the audience. He became the inspiration for several actors and they want to follow the footsteps of Dilip Kumar. Rarely film industries get actors like Dilip Kumar. It's very difficult to chose his 3 most iconic films because his every film looks like an iconic film and his acting in every film is iconic.

Dilip Kumar had acted in 57 films, some of his other iconic films are Andaz in 1949, Daag in 1952, Naya Daur in 1957, Madhumati in 1958, Kohinoor in 1960, Gunga Jumna in 1961, Kranti in 1981 and Karma in 1986.

What are some interesting facts about Kishore Kumar?

 1. Kishore Kumar was born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly in a Bengali family.



2. The multifaceted singer had never received any vocal training.

3. He sang in a number of Indian languages- Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Assamese, Malayalam, Oriya, and Kannada.
SD was like godfather to Kishore Da



4. His first film as an actor was Shikari which was released in 1946. His first song to be featured in a film was Marne Ki Duayein Kyun Maangu .

3 legends in single pic- Satyajeet Ray, Ashokkumar & Kishore Da ,



5. He sang both the male and female parts for the song Aake Seedhi Lagi Dil Pe which was supposed to be sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

6. Once in an interview the Living Legend - Lata Didi said, we are nothing in front of Kishore Da meaning he is the best ever singer in India .
Two best ever in Indian Singing History



7. Kishore Kumar's yodelling was inspired by Jimmie Rodgers and Tex Morton.

8. The singer, who was immensely popular among the youth, holds the record for winning 8 Filmfare Awards. No one men else have won more than Kishore Kumar.

9. Kishore Kumar has an award named after him which is called 'Kishore Kumar Award'. It's awarded to people for contributions to Hindi Cinema.

10. Composer and artist Bappi Lahiri is Kishore Kumar’s nephew.



11. There used to be a signboard outside his bungalow that read ‘Beware of Kishore’.
Kishore Kumar sang most number of songs for Rajesh Khanna (245), followed by those of Jeetendra, Dev Anand and Amitabh Bachchan respectively.
There is very very big role of Kishore Da in making of Superstar Rajesh Khanna



12) For the film Half Ticket, Kishore sang both in male and female voices in the song, Aake Seedhi Lagi Dil Pe.

13) During Emergency, he was asked to sing for an Indian National Congress rally in Mumbai, which he refused. As a result, there was ban on playing his songs by national broadcasters, All India Radio and Doordarshan from 1976 till the end of Emergency.

14) Kishore Kumar married four times – his first wife was Ruma Guha Thakurta (1950-1958). His second wife was Madhubala (1960-1969). He later married actor Yogeeta Bali in 1976, only to get divorced in 1978. He married actor Leena Chandravarkar in 1980 and they were together till his death 1987. Reports suggest that he converted to Islam to married Madhubala. He reportedly stopped singing for Mithun Chakraborty when Yogeeta married him, after leaving Kishore.
Kishore Kumar 1st wife


Kishore Kumar with Madhubala

Kishore Kumar with Leena Chandavarkar & son Amit Kumar .

15) Kishore’s eccentricities were legendary – he had put a sign board outside his flat which read ‘Beware of Kishore’. When director Rahul Rawail’s father HS Rawail, also a well-known producer-director, visited his home to pay Kishore the money he owed the singer, Kishore took the money and when the latter wanted to shake hands, the singer promptly put Rawail’s hand in his mouth. On being asked by surprised Rawail what he was doing, he replied: “Didn’t you see the sign?”

16) Talking of his eccentricities, Kishore was known to be a loner; he had no friends and often spoke to trees. Once when a reporter remarked how lovely he must be, Kishore took the reporter to his garden and introduced her to his trees!
Rare pic of Kishore Kumar with Kalyanji & Anandji


17) Hrishikesh Mukherjee had planned Anand with Kishore and Mehmood initially. Once, when veteran director went to Kishore’s home to discuss the story with the actor-singer, he was driven away by the guard due to a misunderstanding. Why? Kishore had not been paid for a stage show, organized by a Bengali. Consequently, he had instructed his guard to drive away “this Bengali” if he ever showed up at the singer’s place. Hrishikesh later made the film with Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan.



18) Kishore was paranoid about payment and strictly followed the policy of ‘no pay, no work’. Once while working on a film, he reported turned up at the sets with make-up done on half of his face. He had learnt that the producer hadn’t paid fully. When asked by the director, he replied: “Aadha paisa to aadha make-up.”

19) The famous song Paanch Rupaiyya Barah Ana was inspired by his debt to an Indore college canteen. He owed Rs 5.75 to the canteen.

20) Always all the governments previously Congress & now running government not given attention to Kishore Da - there are 1000s of singers got padma award but Kishore Da never got any such award ,But one thing to remember Kishore Da are much much bigger than those padma awards, they are are residing in millions of Indian hearts as Bharatratna ❣️❣️

Kishore Kumar with his mother & son Amit Kumar

Kishore Kumar with Mohammad Rafi



The legendary singer will always be celebrated for his melodious voice and timeless tracks!

What are the best Kishore Kumar movies?

 

• Tamasha : This romantic comedy film (1952) was a big hit .
• Kishore Kumar acted along with Devanand and Meena Kumari in this interesting movie.
• His song -Khali Peeli Kaye Ko - was quite popular.

• Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi : This super hit hindi movie (1958) is treated as an Indian classic
• Kishore Kumar along with brothers Ashok Kumar and Anoop Kumar acted in this comedy film
• It also had Madhubala and great hindi songs.

• Half ticket : This super hit comedy movie (1962) starring Madhubala and Pran is counted among the best Indian comedy movies.
• It not only had Kishore Kumar as a superb comedian but also hit songs- Cheel Cheel Chilake ; Ankhon Me Tum.

• Door Gagan Ke Chhaon Pe : This 1964 movie had Kishore Kumar along with Supriya Devi - a known Bengali actress- and Amit Kumar (child artist)
• It was praised for its sensitive subject and emotional scenes. Its many songs Aa Chalke Tujhe; Koi Lauta De Mere

• Padosan : He also acted in this hit comedy movie (1968) that had Sunil Dutt ; Mehmood ; Om Prakash ; Sundar ; Keshto and Saira Bano.
• This Indian classic is known for superb comedy and songs- Mere Samnewali ; Kehna Hai; Mere Bhole Balam - by Kishore Kumar.

• Door Ka Rahi : This 1971 had Kishore Kumar along with Ashok Kumar ; Tanuja ; Abhi Bhattacharya ; Keshto Mukherjee and Iftekar
• This philosophical saga has good acting by this known thespian.
• Its song - Bekrar E Dil was a mega hit.
• Fact : Kishore Kumar had mastery over many genres - direction ; music ; acting ; singing.
• He was an actor par excellence and a gifted singer-musician and creative genius.
• Well : This great thespian (1929–1987) was an enigma till his last.
• Prayer : Om Shanti Kishore Da !
• Pic Credits : Google Images/Web

Who motivated actor Manoj Kumar to make an entry into Bollywood films?

 Manoj Kumar was the most longed filmstar of the Indian cinema during his times and he was born on 24th July, 1937 in Abbotabad of British India. Harikrishban Goswami was his earlier name. He got his name changed as he got Inspired by the changed name of Dilip Kumar. He belonged to a Punjabi Hindu family which got migrated to Delhi during partition when he was 10 years old.

After moving to Delhi he completed his graduation in Arts in Hindu College. After completing his graduation he started his career in the year 1957 when he was 20 years old with a small role in the film Fashion.

Manoj Kumar:

As per the information available, when he was a student he liked to watch the films in which his favourite actors were casted. His parents H.L Goswami and Krishna Kumari Goswami noted his interest, talents in the film field and they gave complete cooperation to pursue his career in this field.

Hence alongwith his parents motivation Ashok Kumar who was the early hero of those times and alongwith him the acting style of Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal motivated Manoj Kumar to become an actor. The box office hit film Kangan of Ashok Kumar was the first film which impressed him most and after watching this film thenceforth he was a great fan of Ashok Kumar and later he developed an interest towards acting.

After watching Dilip's Shabnam, he changed his original name Harikrishan Giri Goswami to Manoj Kumar. In the film Dilip's character name was Manoj Kumar.

In the above pic Manoj Kumar is receiving The Black Lady Film Fare Award from Mumtaz in 15th Film Fare Award in the year 1968.

Manoj Kumar was a talented person and had expertise in acting, directing, screenwriting, he was also a lyricist and editor who worked prominently exclusively in Hindi cinema for more than four decades and has entertained the audience with the valuable messages which also helped the public to mould their attitude into positive direction. His net worth was about 127 crore and he was quite wealthy person as he was a talented person in various aspects of film making..

Even the political leader like Lal Bahadur Shastri had asked him to make a film. He is also a recipient of the most prestigious awards like Dada Sab Phalke Award and also Padmashri. He passed away recently on 24th April 2025 at the age of 88 years.