Fans want ancestral home of Dilip Kumar preserved

PESHAWAR: The culture lovers and fans of the Indian cinema legend from Peshawar, Dilip Kumar, have urged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to honour its earlier pledge to acquire his ancestral house and give it the status of national heritage.

The provincial Culture Department had announced in February this year to purchase the house where the Bollywood film icon Mohammad Yusuf Khan, popularly known as Dilip Kumar, was born on December 11, 1922.

The plan was drawn up to promote cultural activities and acknowledge the services the great star had rendered to the Indian cinema both before and after partition of the subcontinent.

This three-storey house, built over five marlas land and situated at Mohallah Khudadad at the back of the Qissa Khwani Bazaar is at present in a shambles for lack of maintenance. Dilip Kumar lived early part of his life at this house with his family and always fondly remembered those days.

He visited the house in 1988 when he was in his hometown for the first time after the independence. He revisited Peshawar again in 1998 when he was in Pakistan to receive a prestigious civil award from the Government of Pakistan.

Mohammad Ziauddin, a culture expert and researcher of the Hindko language, said fans were delighted after learning that houses of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor in Peshawar would get the national heritage status.

“It was heartening news for all those who loved culture though the step was taken belatedly. But it is a source of concern that nothing concrete has been done so far to give the practical shape to the highly positive announcement made by our provincial government,” said the writer who took the pain to bring out a special issue of the Hindko literary and cultural journal to highlight life and work of Dilip Kumar.

A historian who has sufficient knowledge of the Indian film stars from Peshawar and other parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ibrahim Zia, said the national heritage status to houses of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor would present a soft image of our region to the world.

“All places having cultural importance should be preserved. The government should remove the impediments in way of acquiring the ancestral houses of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor and save them for our posterity,” suggested the expert who has to his credit two books one each on Peshawar culture and calligraphy.

A culture enthusiast, Dr Salahuddin, said preservation of the houses of Dilip Kumar and that of Raj Kapoor was the duty of the Culture Department and Tourism Corporation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

“It is strange that almost one year back the government had announced to give the national heritage status to houses of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor and now that the year draws to a close, the relevant departments are looking the other way. The close relatives of Dilip Kumar are still living in Peshawar. A series of meetings with present occupants of the house and the relatives of the Indian cinema legend can help resolve this issue. That only needs the will power and seriousness on the part of the relevant government departments,” said Dr Salahuddin, adding it would have been better had the government opened the home as a museum on December 11 (today) after acquiring and preserving it.

“It would have been a befitting birthday gift to Dilip Kumar, who is a son of this soil and has great love for Peshawar and its culture,” said Dr Salahuddin.

A culture expert, Dr Ali Jan, said there was no difficulty from structural point of view to preserve the houses of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor.

“I visited the house of Dilip Kumar recently and was encouraged to learn that the old frame of the house was still intact. It can be turned into a museum without any difficulty. The government can come forward to preserve a building once it is declared heritage. It cannot be demolished even if it is a private property,” argued Ali Jan while pointing to an alleged dispute over the ownership of the house.