Unknown facts about Dilip Kumar

Dilip Sahab was only a year over twenty when he began his film acting career at Bombay Talkies. He hadn’t seen a feature film until he started working at Bombay Talkies as an actor on a handsome monthly salary of Rs 1250. It was entirely up to him to groom and prepare himself for a career in a medium that was itself in an evolving process at that time. Devika Rani who was at the helm of the studio management had rather uncannily noticed tremendous potential in him when he walked into her office with a family friend one morning seeking a job in the studio’s technical department. She was impressed by his handsome, distinguished looks, his polished demeanor and his soft, refined way of speaking. She asked him if he was well versed with Urdu and he eagerly answered in the affirmative. The next query she put to him was whether he would join the studio as an actor on a monthly salary of Rs 1250. He was too stunned to reply at once and he asked for a day’s time to reply. It was too good an amount to turn down but what about his ignorance of the medium and the work he was going to do?