Bollywood Hungama

Umesh Mehra recalls HEARTBREAKING incident that still HAUNTS him: A youngster saw Dilip Kumar in Qila and told his father, Papa, yeh toh Shah Rukh Khan ki COPY kar raha hai

Umesh Mehra had a fascinating conversation with Kiran Juneja on DD Urdus chat show Guftgoo about his memorable films and a lot more. During the conversation, he recalled a heartbreaking incident involving a young moviegoers comment on Dilip Kumars performance in Qila (1998). Umesh Mehra said, Qila marked Dilip saabs return to acting after almost a decade. Woh acting toh nahin bhoole the lekin log unko bhool chuke the. We, the people of the industry, knew who Dilip Kumar is. But the public had forgotten him. He continued, Theres a miserable incident which happened in front of me. The youngsters had no idea who Dilip Kumar was. I was in a theatre to check the audience reaction and hear what the audience is talking about the film. During the interval, I saw this young kid discussing the film with his father. The kid remarked, Papa, yeh toh Shah Rukh Khan ki copy kar raha hai! Umesh Mehra added, Woh bacche ka comment aaj bhi mere kaano mein bajta hai. Yeh kitne dukh ki baat hai. So, I guess its important to keep doing films. Only then youll be visible to the public. And it's not like Dilip saab was short of film offers. Directors aur producers ki line lagi rehti thi. I guess he had his reasons. Qila starred Dilip Kumar in a double role and also featured Rekha, Mamta Kulkarni, Mukul Dev, Smita Jaykar and Gulshan Grover. The 1998 mystery thriller marked Dilip Kumars final film appearance before his death on July 7, 2021. In the film, he played an evil landowner who is murdered, as well as his twin brother, a court judge who sets out to investigate the killing. Also Read: 50 years of Sholay EXCLUSIVE: Umesh Mehra of Minerva cinema breaks the MYTH that the film struggled in the initial 2 weeks; says, Sab jhooth hai. There was negative publicity; also reveals that this is the only film that ran genuinely for years