Pakistan honours Dilip Kumar, makes home a museum

NEW DELHI: In Pakistan, they say that Bollywood would have been barren without Dhakki in Peshawar. For, in this Khyber-Pakthunkwa locality that flanks Qissa Khawani – Street of Story-tellers – are located the ancestral houses of three icons of India’s silver screen: Shah Rukh Khan, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar.

Islamabad now seems to have finally decided to celebrate the roots of Bollywood legends by deciding to acquire Dilip Kumar’s ancestral house and convert it to a museum. Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif has also decided to declare this house as the country’s national heritage.

“PM Nawaz Sharif was eager to promote the cultural relationship between India and Pakistan and also met with the representatives of Indian film industry in his last visit to India…the project would play an important role to bring people of Pakistan and India closer,” according to a report in the Pakistani daily Nation.

In New Delhi, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit confirmed the development. “The PM’s decision is testimony to the enormous importance Pakistan attaches to promoting art and culture and paying tribute to living legends like Dilip Kumar whose contributions to the sub-continent cinema are unparalleled,” he told ET.

Earl i e r, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or formerly North Western Frontier Province government had requested Pakistan’s federal government that it should take steps to acquire Dilip Kumar’s home and declare it a national heritage.

The Nation report said that Kumar’s five marla home was in a shabby condition and occupied illegally by someone who claimed to be a relative of Kumar.

High Commission spokesman Manzoor Ali Memon said Dilip Kumar was an equally revered figure in Pakistan and said PM Sharif had directed director general of Pakistan National Council of Arts for converting the building to a museum dedicated to the acting legend.