Dilip Kumar & Kamini Kaushal bag Life-time achievement awards Written by V.S DATTA (Editor , N.I.P Allahabad ) Monday, 09 February 2015 14:27 TRAGEDY KING FASTED IN JAIL WITH SARDAR PATEL It is sheer coincidence that both Kamini Kaushal and Dilip Kumar were conferred Life-Time Achievement Awards last month.Dilip Kumar was given this award at Jaipur International Film Festival(received by Anupam Kher on his behalf) whereas Kamini Kaushal was honoured with the same at Filmfare Awards function in Mumbai. This romantic pair on screen had become very, very popular among the movie fans. Their very first film together was a golden jubilee hit- ‘Shaheed’, a memorable, unforgettable movie that had thrilled many a politician of today including the Bahugunas. What was the truth about their love affair? I am reproducing this from a report published in Times of India:’Dilip Kumar fell in love for the first time with renowned actress Kamini Kaushal. It was on the sets of 'Shaheed' that their love blossomed. They were planning to marry as well, but Kamini's brother was against the relationship. Since, Kamini was already married to her late sister's husband to look after her child, it was difficult for her also to move out. It is also said, that Kamini's brother even threatened the actor to break off and move on’. Kamini Kaushal was asked about their relationship by a radio scribe. She neither denied it nor confirmed it. She took the question very sportingly but said that her husband used to be present on the sets when she was participating in any shooting schedule. DilipKumar celebrated his 93rd birthday. Kamini Kaushal was born on January 16, 1927. She 1 / 4 Dilip Kumar & Kamini Kaushal bag Life-time achievement awards Written by V.S DATTA (Editor , N.I.P Allahabad ) Monday, 09 February 2015 14:27 has thus completed 88 years. This means that when she was 18, he was 23—ideal age for an ideal pair to romance!.It would be no exaggeration to say that theirs has been the most highly-aged pair of the Hindi screen. All other romantic pairs of the silver screen , their contemporaries, departed for their heavenly abode long,long ago. Dilip Kumar hardly ever mentioned about her. But when he once in Ceylon and visited Radio Ceylon, he did show expressions that betrayed his love for her. Kamini Gangawar(now Tikku) told Patrika that when she introduced him as Kamini(Ganjawar), Dilip’s eyes had a sparkled look: ‘Oh, you are also Kamini...’ he had exclaimed, unable to suppress his feelings which were just aroused by her name. It has been a long journey for them. How can we forget Kamini Kaushal’s youthful bounce which was there when, dressed as a lad, she sings in film ‘Shabnam’ that multi-lingual song, ‘Ye duniya roop ki chor bachale mujhe babu’ or ‘Mera dil tarpa ke kaha chala itna to bata ke ja’’ with Dilip Kumar looking at her in stunned wonder. Years later she was interviewed by Radio Ceylon on phone when she took special delight in recalling songs from films in which she starred with Dilip Kumar.While talking about the ‘Shaheed’ numbers she did refer to the hit songs rendered for her by Surinder Kaur but she could not forget the children’s song of freedom fighters:‘Todi todi bacche re Teri auisi ki taisi. When she played the ‘Shabnam’ number, ‘Mera dil tarapa ke kahan chala itna to bata ke jaa’, she said that in this song her ‘take’ with Dilip was over in a few seconds. The rest of the action was filmed separately. I cannot forget the Shabnam duet that was filmed on Kamini and Dilip towards the end,. Composed by S.D.Burman, the song was rendered by Mukesh and Geeta Roy.‘Kismat mein bicharrna tha Hui kyon un se mulaqat re,Na rooth ke mujh se ja Ke mera dil nahin mere haath re’.Kamini Kaushal also took special delight in playing the ‘Nadiya ke Paar’ number, ‘More raja ho le chal nadiya ke paar’ .When she referred to Arzoo she played the Talat Mahmood number filmed on Dilip:‘Ai dil mujhe aisi jegah le chalJahan koi na ho’.Perhaps not many may be knowing that in her first bumper film ‘Shaheed’ three playback singers lent their voice to Kamini Kaushal. Surinder Kaur – who sang three songs in the film, two of which were filmed on her, ‘Badnam na ho jae muhabbat ka fasana’ and ‘ Ujarra umeedon ka chaman Hae hum kahan aur tum kahan’. The third one, ‘Hum tum ko na paen get um hum ko naa pao ge’ was played on the radio and she was keenly listening to it. When the lines came,Aana hai to ajao, gar ab bhi na avo ge.Hum tum ko na paen get um hum ko na pao ge’ the face of smiling Dilip is seen on the radio’s speaker-screen. The opening song,Bachpan ki yad dheere dheere pyar ban gai,Aa dekh ik phulwarti ab gulzar ban gai’was sung on the piano as Kamini kaushal waits for Dilip to come down from his room and join her and the parents. Lalita Dewoolkar lent her voice for this song and the last song for Kamini Kaushal was rendered by Geeta Roy:‘Aja bedardi balma koi ro ro pukaare,Mein to bisaaroon zalima mera dil na bisaare’ Surinder Kaur sang for her in ‘Nadiya ke paar ‘ too,:‘Akhiyan mila ke akhiyan,Roen din ratiyan, Hae na bhoolen battiyan..’But in this film C.Ramchandra used Lalita Dewoolkar to sing for her the duet(title song) with Rafi and also a hit folk number,‘Dil de ke bhaga, dagha de ke bhaga,Kaise bedardi se dil mera laaga..’ Kamini Kaushal took to acting as a child star on AIR Lahore(before partition) She said that for participation in each programme she received Rs.10, which was quite some sum for a child in those days. 2 / 4 Dilip Kumar & Kamini Kaushal bag Life-time achievement awards Written by V.S DATTA (Editor , N.I.P Allahabad ) Monday, 09 February 2015 14:27 Every one knows that after the success of ‘Shaheed’ (1948) in which Kamini Kaushal acted with Dilip Kumar, there were rumors about an affair between the two. They acted in four films in all – Shaheed, Nadiya Ke Paar , Shabnam and Arzoo – but these were enough to set on fire the rumors about their romance, the flames of which leapt across the country. Vividh Bharati once asked her: ‘You acted with Dilip Sa’ab too.’ She praised him a lot, saying that he was a great actor, shy and introvert. When the interviewer tried to hint at the romantic phase, she said ,’Oh that was youthful fun(infatuation)’ or something like that. She did not deny it. At the same time she showed no embarrassment either. When asked to recall some memorable duet she had sung, she referred to the one she had sung with Dilip. She even rendered a line, ‘More raja ho le chal nadiya ke paar’. She also heaped lavish praise on Talat Mahmood recalling the first song he had sung in her film with Dilip Kumar, ‘Arzoo’ in which he had sung for the hero that unforgettable song, ‘Ai dil mujhe aisi jegah lechal jahan koi na ho’. That was a decent and dignified way of treating that chapter. Dilip Kumar was given Life time achievement award at Jaipur International Film Festival. Anupam Kher received it on his behalf. Saira Babo wrote to the organizers telling them that much though he would have loved to visit the pink city, he was unable to do so because of health problems for which he has to often go to hospitals for checkups.Few know that Dlip Kumar was jailed as freedom fighter in real life too. He was once arrested by police for his 'anti-British' views and spent a night on hunger-strike along with another'Gandhiwalas' lodged in a prison cell.In his recent autobiography 'Dilip Kumar: The Substance and Shadow', the legendary actor recounts how his patriotic eloquence met a fate he had never imagined! In pre-independent India, during his stay at Poona (as Pune was known then), Dilip Kumar worked at a canteen in Air Force cantonment when one day, at the behest of a senior colleague, he made a speech about India's superiority as nation a nation of hard-working, truthful and non-violent people. ‘My speech evoked genuine applause and I felt elated but the enjoyment of my success was short-lived. To my surprise, a bunch of police officers had arrived on the scene and handcuffed me, saying I had to be arrested for my anti-British views. ‘Hesays:"I was taken away to the Yerwada Jail and locked up in a cell with some decent-looking men, who I was told were satyagrahis (followers of Mahatma Gandhi who offered passive resistance). On my arrival the jailor referred to me as a 'Gandhiwala'" Kumar recalls. The actor said, "I could not figure out why he was using this term for me till I heard the policemen refer to all the inmates of the cell as Gandhiwalas. It was their way of herding us together as followers of Gandhiji." The young Dilip Kumar, who went on to become an acting legend, came to know that freedom fighter Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was also lodged in one of the cells of the same prison and they all were on a hunger strike with him’.