From the very beginning, Dilip Kumar believed in the importance of facial expressions — that one look or glance which conveys more than pages of dialogues.

In Amar Dilip Kumar loved Madhubala but in a moment of weakness he seduced the poor milk maid Nimmi, who got pregnant. Expressions of pain, regret and remorse were so clearly etched on the face of Dilip, who, with his histrionics, so beautifully conveyed the turmoil of a morally coward youth. One could see a storm raging and dying in his eyes when Madhubala threw the bridal ring at him.

Dilip Kumar left no stone unturned to get under the skin of a character. Rambling aimlessly with a bottle in his hand and the shadow of death looming large before him, Dilip lit up the screen with his histrionics in Bimal Roy’s Devdas. With his look of tragic resignation, Dilip put life into the fictional character. His performance in this film remains a landmark in the realm of performing arts.

Repeatedly playing the tragedian, however, took its toll on him and by the time Dilip Kumar played the luckless lover of Devdas, he consulted a psychiatrist. The good doctor prescribed comedy for him and thus Dilip took a break by essaying comic roles in Azaad, Ram Aur Shyam and Koh-i-Noor etc. In these too, Dilip sailed through the comic and hilariously bizarre roles with the skill of a seasoned artiste. He performed the fun-filled role of Khan Sahib in Azaad with the same felicity as he did emotional roles.

In Ram Aur Shyam, Dilip Kumar used contrasting histrionics and body language to represent the disparity between two identical twins who had grown up in a different environment. As a cowering Ram, we saw Dilip with downcast eyes and a diffident gait. As Shyam, he walked with jauntily and spoke with nonchalance.

With a resplendent performance in Kranti, Dilip Kumar managed the transition to the status of grand patriarch with elan. In Shakti, in every scene of confrontation with his estranged son played by Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip made his presence felt with his cool condescension and scornful, pitying gaze. His mannerisms — scratching of the head, index finger wagging in admonition, casual slamming of drawers and playing with his spectacles — lent authenticity to his portrayal.

Dilip Kumar’s fetish for perfection and involvement in his work is legendary. In Naya Daur, in the scene depicting a race between car and tonga, half way through the climax, one of reins of the horse snapped. It was a dangerous situation, but Dilip Kumar went on without showing any signs of nervousness. His passion for perfection has not been touched by the ravages of time. His intensity and passion for acting can by no means be outclassed even by the Hollywood counterparts.

To preserve a degree of freshness and to prevent stereotyping, Dilip Kumar limited the number of films he worked in. Each one of the over 60 films he worked in during six decades, carries the unmatched Dilip Kumar stamp. The key to his astounding success is his exclusivity and relentless quest for excellence, which have not only helped him to carry on but to move across genres. From the romantic tragedies to fun-filled comedies to bone-crunching action-packed films, — the fluidity in his performance has stayed intact down the years.

Known as ‘the last emperor’, a living legend, a ‘monarch’ and a thespian, Dilip Kumar consistently worked hard to adapt himself to every decade — a true trendsetter and a connector through different times. He deservedly enjoyed uninterrupted stardom from the time of Jwar Bhata and continues to do so at the ripe age of 80, proving thereby that age is no bar to creativity. He is an actor who has done Hindi cinema proud. May his tribe increase!