X’s father, Muhammad Sarvar Khan, was a fruit merchant from Peshavar settled in Mumbai. He wanted his son, X, to become an administrative official and an OBE. In parts, this was because of the respect he saw accorded to a certain Basheswarnath, a government official in Peshavar during the pre-independence era. Basheswarnath’s son and grandsons were very famous movie stars of Bollywood. Sarvar Khan used to joke with Basheswarnath about his son and grandsons joining the nautanki business instead of following him and becoming officials. As fate would have it, X also joined the movie business. X’s father took X to meet Maulana Abul Kalam Azad so that the great freedom fighter and scholar would drive some sense into X’s head. After patiently hearing them, Maulana Azad told X that no matter what he did, he should make sure he did with honesty and dedication as if he was offering Namaz. This advice was something X followed all his life.

Whos’ X?

Answer

Dilip Kumar, or Yousuf Khan – the legend of Indian Cinema. Basheswarnath’s son was the great Prithviraj Kapoor, whose son was the ultimate showman Raj Kapoor. Yousuf and Raj studied at the same college and were great friends.