Dilip Kumar - The Substance and the Shadow - An Autobiography

Dilip Kumar told his Life story to Udaytara Nayar who did a average job writing this book and I feel it could have been written better,better adjectives or similes could have been used,it could have been nice sweet book of Nostalgia which readers can return to.It could have been better if first a Urdu writer had written this book and later it could be translated into other languages for Udaytara reveals there were times when she could not understand some Urdu words and later asked a expert.It doesn't even comes close to Romancing with Life which Dev Anand wrote himself.

Any way if you leave the drab writing and just follow the journey of Dilip Kumar,this book still is a good read beside being factual.But at the end of it I hope for a Part II for still there are a lot of untold things about people who were his companions along this beautiful journey of life.Also there are several parts which made me cry,like when his brothers and mother passed away or when he goes to meet an ailing Madhubala.

"In my view the heart-breaking moment in Dilip Kumar's life was not the break-up with Kamini kaushal but the time when he learnt that K.Asif has eloped with his sister.By then I was out of K.Asif's life as the wicked man had wooed and married my friend Nigar Sultana.I can't figure out who was the bigger fool - I or Nigar?His back-stabbing Dilip bhai was unacceptable to me,I cursed him he would die for the sin he has committed.On 9 March 1971 Gopi Krishna called me and informed me of K Asif's premature death.I could hear my own curse ringing in my ears." - Sitara Devi

"Soon after our निकाह Madhubala asked me to meet her.Saira insisted that I should go and meet her as she was frail and weak now.On reaching her home I was pained to see her so ill .She was happy to see me and said 'हमारे शहजादे को आखिर उनकी शहजादी मिल ही गयी, मैं बहुत खुश हूँ!'.I soon sorted her problem and that was the last time I saw her.She passed away on 23 February 1969."

"My mother would be sound asleep, tired after all the toil during the day.My unmarried phoopis(father's sisters) would also be sleeping there as also the healthy Persian cats,which were kept as pets largely because they were needed to warm the beds on winter nights."

"While the singing and storytelling went on ,the Persian cats would be made to sleep on the beds to keep the beds warm for the occupants.That was something peculiar to Peshawar."