Dilip Kumar, the emperor of emotions, has seen numerous achievements and achievements in his life, won many honors with his name, his wish was fulfilled but there was only one desire in his heart that somehow his name as a director also shines on the screen.
While making the film ‘Ganga Jamna’, which was released in 1961, he also directed but was replaced on screen by Nitin Bose.
While working in various films, he used to advise the directors on how to shoot which scene and no one ever considered it to interfere with his work.
Dilip Kumar’s desire to become a director in his heart made him very restless. It was in the 90s when Dilip Kumar graduated from ‘Saudagar’, he seriously decided to make his dream a reality.
The story was in his mind for years. Whenever he got a chance, Dilip sat down to write his screenplay. This was brought to his notice by Dileep Sahib while working on producer Sudhakar Bokade’s ‘Izzat Daar’, and Sudhakar thought that he would invest in the film and he did.
When Sudhakar Bokade told this good news to Dilip Kumar one day, Dilip Kumar was filled with new enthusiasm and excitement. He quickly worked on the script of the film and completed it within a few months. The name of the film was suggested as ‘Kalinga‘. Dilip Kumar was going to play the role of a judge Kalinga in it.
It was the character of a principled man, whose corrupt sons wish to end his father’s life, seeing him as an obstacle to progress. When the judge comes to know about this, he makes a dangerous plan and this is where the story takes a new turn.
In April 1991, producer Sudhakar Bokade organized a formal ceremony and announced that he was going to produce Dilip Kumar’s directorial debut. The news was heard with great interest in the film circles, newspapers published the news prominently.
Everyone is eagerly waiting to see how ‘Kalinga’ will be and what will be the quality of Dilip Kumar’s direction. Little did Dilip Kumar know that a tough and difficult phase of life was about to come his way, with new challenges at every turn. They are going to sweat to fulfill this desire.
Sunny Deol was chosen for this crime-and-justice film, but he excused himself citing his waistline. The problem now was who to take. Amitoj Munn, a budding actor, was roped in for the film. Other actors of ‘Kalinga’ included Raj Babbar, Meenakshi Shashadri, Shilpa Shrodkar, Amjad Khan and Raj Karan.
Dilip Kumar chose Kalyanji Anandji for the music, who composed the lyrics to the lyrics written by Anand Bakshi.
Dilip sir was paying attention not only to the direction but also to the music, which was the reason why his likes and dislikes were taken into account in the lyrics of most of the songs. Many of the tunes were changed by Dilip Kumar and left no stone unturned to make them more melodious and juicy.
The film ‘Kalinga’ was also unique in that it featured Amjad Khan and Dilip Kumar working together for the first time. Dilip Kumar worked day and night to direct the film. It was learned that during this time he was offered three big films, but due to the shooting of ‘Kalinga’, he apologized. Among these films was BR Chopra’s ‘Baghbaan’, the initial paperwork of which began in 1992.
Apart from this, there was also a film by his favorite director Subhash Ghai. Dilip Kumar wanted to concentrate all his attention only on ‘Kalinga’ to make it a masterpiece of his life. Producer Sudhakar Bokade, who had seen Dilip Kumar’s direction, used to rave at film festivals saying that Dilip sir had really done a great job in ‘Kalinga’.
However, with the speed with which the film started, gradually it also started to suffer from stagnation. ‘Kalinga’ actor Raj Babbar joined politics with acting. There, the popularity of heroine Meenakshi Shashadri increased, so they started giving less importance to ‘Kalinga’.
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On the other hand, several actors have also complained to Dilip Kumar that he takes hours to shoot each scene, which is affecting the schedule of his other films. Now who would have told them that Dilip Kumar wants 100 percent ‘perfection’ in every single scene.
It can be inferred that for one scene in the film he had to mirror birds and donkeys and for this single scene he and his team traveled to several cities.
On the other hand, producer Sudhakar Bokadia was wanted by the Indian police in a case, so most of the producer’s time was spent in courts and police stations instead of on film sets.
Meanwhile, for Dilip Kumar, the news proved to be disturbing that the lead actor of his film, Raj Karan, suddenly went missing. The movie stopped. Dilip Kumar uses all his connections to search for Rajkaran but there is no trace of him.
This is the reason why Rajkaran’s work remained unfinished. It is another matter that many years later, Rajkaran was found in a hospital bed in America. He was reported to have lost his mental balance.
Similarly, Amjad Khan died on July 27, 1992 during the shooting and his work was also left unfinished.
Producer Sudhakar Bokade had faith in Dilip Kumar but the constant delays seemed to reduce his interest in this ‘Kalinga’. The budget of the film was also increasing. Since Saira Banu was the associate producer, Dilip Kumar got a little bit of capital. Whenever the actors got dates, Dilip Kumar would shoot the film.
By 1999, he realized that what he had done with ease in the past through ‘Ganga Jamna’, was now impossible. Bitter and unpleasant experiences were being faced, which Dilip Kumar had never imagined.
Advancing age, ill health and the actors’ poor looks also took their toll on Dilip Kumar and there was a time when the shooting of ‘Kalinga’ had to be stopped unannounced even though it was 80% complete.
Dilip Kumar was saddened till the end that the film which was very close to his heart, through which he also thought of making his name as a director, could not make it to the screens.
Sangeeta Ahir, the project producer of Dilip Kumar’s film project, had revealed in an interview last year that by digitizing the recordings of ‘Kalinga’ so far, she wants to bring this dream project of Dilip Kumar to his fans. deliver
Sangeetha even claims that Amjad Khan gave the best role of his life after ‘Sholay’ in ‘Kalinga’ and credits Dilip Kumar, who not only Amjad Khan but also other actors. Unparalleled performance of life.
‘Kalinga’ was a box office hit but after that the last film in which Dilip Kumar showed his acting chops was the 1998 film ‘Qalaa’. Sadly, this film was a flop and Dilip Kumar left the film industry.
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