Anees Lokhande’s criticism of Farouq Luqman’s article on Dilip Kumar is rude, unnecessary and uncalled for. My friends and I in fact enjoyed Luqman’s crisp biography of Dilip Kumar — no article per se is enough to recognize Dilip Kumar’s acting prowess and contribution to Indian cinema. To belittle Luqman’s article as devoid of substance and something easily available on the Internet, can be said of his today’s letter too! We always source some data from historical records wherever they may be!
Recently Dilip Kumar quietly celebrated his 90th birthday without much fanfare as a mark of respect to recent deaths of some big personalities, including that legendary Yash Chopra. Perhaps many don’t know that like many other Indian cinema legends — Shah Rukh Khan, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar (real name Yusuf Khan), Madhubala, Prithvi Raj Kapoor, Vinod Khanna and others, have roots in Peshawar, Pakistan, now better known for conservatism and militancy. Dilip Kumar re-located to India after partition because of business interests in India. There were many other Hindu Pathans and Punjabis, like Kapoor clan who migrated from what is now Pakistan to India after the partition.
The very fact that many Muslim actors continued to stay in Hindu majority India helped overcome the bitter legacy of Hindu-Muslim divide. Indian cinema played a very responsible role in trying to unite all religious divides of India. — Seif A. Somalya, Jeddah
Uncalled for criticism
