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Dilip Kumar

Indian actor and politician (1922-2021)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ377789 ↗
Source-derived summary

Muhammad Yusuf Khan (11 December 1922 – 7 July 2021), known professionally as Dilip Kumar (Hindustani: [d̪ɪliːp kʊmɑːɾ]), was an Indian actor, writer and film producer best known for his work in Hindi cinema. Credited with pioneering method acting in Hindi cinema, he dominated Indian cinema from the 1950s throughout the 1960s and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian Cinema.

In a career spanning over five decades, Kumar worked in 66 released films. He debuted as an actor in the film Jwar Bhata (1944), produced by Bombay Talkies. Following a series of unsuccessful ventures, he had his first box office hit in Jugnu (1947). He consistently starred in top–grossing Indian films from the late-1940s to the 1960s, such as Shaheed, Andaz, Babul, Deedar, Aan, Uran Khatola, Insaniyat, Azaad, Naya Daur, Madhumati, Paigham, Kohinoor, Mughal-E-Azam, Gunga Jumna and Ram Aur Shyam. Some of his most acclaimed performances, include Nadiya Ke Paar, Shabnam, Jogan, Tarana, Daag, Sangdil, Shikast, Footpath, Amar, Devdas, Musafir, Yahudi, Leader, Aadmi and Sunghursh.

The 1970s saw Kumar's career take a downturn, with only one major success, Gopi (1970). In 1976, he went on a brief hiatus from film performances and returned with the revolutionary drama Kranti (1981), which was the highest-grossing Indian film of the year. He continued to play leading roles in films such as Vidhaata (1982), Karma (1986), and Saudagar (1991).

Editorial summary

“Dilip Kumar” enters the record as indian actor and politician (1922-2021). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Dilip, Kumar and Indian can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1922, 2021, 1944, 1947—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1922-12-11. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Dilip, Kumar and Indian.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Dilip Kumar” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Dilip, Kumar and Indian provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q377789. VIAF identifies the subject as 7291703. The Library of Congress control number is no93029655. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1922, 2021, 1944 and 1947.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Dilip Kumar”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Dilip Kumar primary sources, Dilip Kumar archive and Dilip research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Dilip Kumar” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.