Lifetime Achievement Awards being bestowed by the state upon Dilip Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar together -- on the occasion of India's Independence -- are significant. Significant, because it was Khushwant Singh's cover story -- in the August 1970 Independence issue of The Illustrated Weekly Of India -- that first brought this celebrity duo together, as a happening pair, on the stage.
Yet, when Lata and Dilip met up afresh in August 1970, it astonishingly emerged that the two had not been on speaking terms through 13 years!
In such a setting, without knowing how the two then vibed, the idea of getting Lata to tie the raakhi on Dilip Kumar was quintessentially Khushwant Singh's. As The Weekly Editor, Khushwant's August 1970 Hindu-Muslim Bhai-Bhai cover story, featuring Lata Mangeshkar and Dilip Kumar in colour, proved a spot sellout.
Yet the task of getting Lata to Dilip's Pali Hill home at Bandra, a western suburb in Mumbai, was mine. By then, I was a seasoned journalist 20 years into the profession. Still, it was no small thrill to be driving down with Lata Mangeshkar, in her white Fiat, sitting uninterrupted by her charismatic side for an hour. Dilip Kumar's family had been worried about Lata's turning out to be a vegetarian. When, after ringing her, I assured them that Lata said she was a hearty non-vegetarian, Dilip Kumar's household felt relieved.
The way Dilip came to the porch to receive Lata you would never have guessed something was amiss between the two. In fact, the lunch-table atmosphere was as tuneful as it could be.
This was when Lata startled all present by remarking: "You know, Yusuf saab, I'd always heard you loathed me for being one up on you while recording the Laagi naahin chhute Rama duet with you in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Musafir. But I only sang the way I can't help singing any number."
"It's precisely because you can't help singing the way you do that my family and I adore you! How possibly could I loathe a voice so heavenly!" Dilip Kumar proceeded to lay it on a bit thick. So thick as to remind me of what exactly Suraiya (who co-starred with Dilip Kumar in K Asif's uncompleted Jaanwar) meant when she observed: "The trouble with Yusuf was that he continued to act even after the director said 'Cut'!"
Having touched upon Dilip's infinite capacity to charm any lady off her feet, it is imperative to take note of the lifetime bond the Weekly cover story forged between Lata and Dilip. So much so that our centrestage punchline became: "If Lata comes, could Dilip Kumar be far behind?"
The author was Cinema Editor of The Illustrated Weekly Of India
Photograph: NV Reuben
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