Storyteller of Qissa Khwani: Remembering Dilip Kumar on his death anniversary
Jaskiran Chopra
Tragedy king. God of acting these two epithets are enough to sum up the fascinating life story of the Pathan from Storytellers’ Bazaar, Qissa Khwani Bazaar, which lies at the heart of Peshawar in Pakistan. He went on to become Dilip Kumar, the biggest legend of Hindi cinema. July 7 marked his second death anniversary.
Dilip Kumar could never forget the years he spent at his home in Mohalla Khudadaad in Qissa Khwani and turned emotional while recalling those days on many occasions. Peshawar lived in his heart. The land of flowers, its scents and sounds, its extreme summers and winters and its hustle and bustle informed his consciousness.
Born as Yusuf Khan on December 11, 1922, to Ghulam Sarvar Khan and Ayesha, he had 11 siblings. His father was a fruit merchant and the family shifted to Bombay in 1930 for better business opportunities. Yusuf kept coming back to his grandparents in summer vacations. However, post-Partition, he could only go back to Peshawar after a very long gap in 1988.
His visit was celebrated like a festival and people of Peshawar showered him and his wife, Saira Bano, with great love. He was loved with equal intensity by people in India and Pakistan and was a major cultural link between the two nations.
During the visit, he met all his relatives and went to the governor’s house; at Bala Hissar Fort, he danced with pure joy. He went to his house too. He spoke to people in Hindko, his mother tongue, and was ecstatic. The gentle and soft contours of Hindko or Peshawari always reflected in his dialogue delivery in films. During his 1997, however, he could not visit his house as the crowds there were uncontrollable.
Qissa Khwani Bazaar got its name from the exchange of stories of love, valour and adventure, that took place among locals, soldiers, travellers and traders over cups of hot, spiced kahwa through the evening and night. It would be interesting to mention here that quite near to Dilip Kumar’s house are ancestral homes of the famous Kapoor clan and of Shah Rukh Khan. In fact, Dilip Kumar’s father and Raj Kapoor’s grandfather, Dewan Basheswarnath Kapoor, were good friends. It is wonderful to think of this little heart of Peshawar as being the place of the origin of legends of Indian cinema!
Winter evenings saw young Yusuf’s family gather on the terrace around a fire; and stories were narrated by all members. In his autobiography, ‘The Substance and the Shadow’, Dilip Kumar attributed his sense of storytelling to his childhood years. “It was not just the winter nights on the terrace that stimulated my imagination. The main market square in Qissa Khwani Bazaar was known those days for the gathering of traders and shopkeepers… Every evening, I held Aghaji’s finger and walked with him to the square to listen to the unfolding of a narrative.” He writes in the first chapter, “For me, the Peshawar I took birth in was a part of India. I am proud of my nativity in the then Indian city so strategically situated in the region between Central Asia and South Asia that it came to be known as the gateway to India… I remember the vivid colours, the smells and the seasons of my homeland.” Surely, Qissa Khwani has not produced a better storyteller than Yusuf Khan.
