‘Dilip Kumar was both inspiration and aspiration’
As a student, I had a record of Lata Mangeshkar singing live at the Royal Albert Hall, and it was Dilip Kumar who introduced Lataji on stage. I remember we would keep lifting the needle and bringing it back to the edge, only because we wanted to hear his voice again and again. His Urdu came with Saira Banu for a function there. I wanted to interview him for my radio show, and when I called his hotel, I heard on the other side a man speaking wonderful English. In my head, Dilip only spoke crisp Urdu. I refused to believe it was him. He would later pull my leg for this. When we met for the first time, I was in complete awe of him.
