Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan remembers Dilip Kumar on 99th birth anniversary

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan remembered Dilip Kumar on his 99th birth anniversary on Saturday.

On his blog, Amitabh wrote: “Dilip Kumar birth Anniversary 11th December .. he would have been 99 ! whenever the history of the Indian Film Industry shall be written it shall ever be : “ before Dilip Kumar ; after Dilip Kumar.” He also shared a rare photograph of Dilip, “courtesy Moses Sapir of Israel.. our prayers and duas ..”

Moses, who happens to be an Amitabh fan for long, also tweeted: Remembering “The Legend #DilipKumar Sahab on his Birth Anniversary. 11 December 1922.”

Dilip Kumar passed away on July 7 after a long illness. Amitabh and Dilip, the two Bollywood superstars, featured together in just one film, the Ramesh Sippy action-crime film Shakti in 1982.

Paying his tributes to Dilip Kumar, Amitabh wrote: “You never found a single element out of place when he performed on screen or in his non public appearance , or even the public appearance .. his eyes his walk his each limb his every spoken word was like poetry .. the graph and the tone , the pauses the rapid fire , the run by a train , that glass of the sorrow and the inconsequential and consequential expressions of learning.”

Recalling his first interaction with Dilip, Amitabh said that he met him in a restaurant and was wondering whether to talk to him. He rushed out, bought an autograph book and approached Dilip Kumar.

“The walk up to him .. he is concentrated conversation .. i push my words to him in general and the book in hand .. there is no reaction .. he did not even look at me or the book .. and after a short while walked away , out through the door and gone .. the autograph book still in my vacant hands .. the autograph book was not important at all .. it was his presence .. thats it.”

• India