On December 11, Dilip Kumar celebrated his ninety-sixth birthday—the greatest actor Indian cinema has seen, an inspiration and influence for many stars after him, his style the most imitated of all time. Any tribute paid to him would fall short. But here’s a small selection of some of his best songs.
Dilip Kumar, Naushad and Mohammad Rafi seem to go together—the list of their hit songs would endless, but Dilip Kumar also had some evergreen songs composed by others like Shankar-Jaikishen, Salil Chowdhury and later Kalyanji Anandji, and sung by Mukesh and Talat Mehmood.
A pick of ten Dilip Kumar gems out of many, a song for every mood:
1) Yahaan badla wafa ka bewafai ke siva kya hai:
This super duet with Noorjehan, composed by Firoz Nizami was from the 1947 hit Jugnu.
2) Gaaye ja geet milan ke:
The 1948 film Mela had some great songs composed by Naushad. This one sung by Mukesh is the most memorable.
3) Hum aaj kahin dil kho baithe:
Mukesh's voice, Naushad's compostions from the 1949 film Andaz, which was also a musical masterpiece.
4) Meri kahani bhoolnewale:
Deedar was one of the big hits that contributed to Dilip Kumar's tragedy king label. This Naushad composition was sung by Rafi.
5) Yeh hawa yeh raat yeh chandni:
Talat Mehmood's voice suited tragedy king Dilip Kumar and this one by Sajjad Hussain is a classic from the 1952 film Sangdil.
6) Aye mere dil kahin aur chal:
One of Dilip Kumar's best from the 1952 film Daag, sung by Talat Memood and composed by Shankar-Jaikishen.
7) Dil mein chhupake pyar ka toofan:
From the classic Aan, one of Dilip Kumar's few cheerful songs, sung by Talat.
8) Suhana Safar aur yeh mausam haseen:
One of Dilip Kumar's all time favourite numbers from the 1958 film Madhumati, in Mukesh's voice, and composed by Salil Chowdhury.
9) Madhuban mein Radhika naache re:
Naushad composed this scintillating classical number for the 1960 film Kohinoor, and it was sung with feeling by Rafi.
10): Nain lad jai hain :
Dilip Kumar did a fast-paced folk dance for this Ganga Jumna (1961) number, composed by Naushad and sung with infectious joy by Rafi.