Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan launched legendary actor Dilip Kumar's biography at a five-star hotel here. Along with Dilip Kumar's wife Saira Banu, the book launch was attended by a host of Bollywood celebrities here last night.


Dharmendra, Aamir Khan, Saira Banu, Amitabh Bachchan with Dilip Kumar on the stage

The book, titled 'The Substance and the Shadow', is authored by Uday Tara Nayar, a close family friend of the Bollywood thespian. It chronicles the life of Kumar right from his childhood, career, the ups and downs in his life, his family and more. "This evening is special and we hope everyone likes his biography. I am feeling great today. It is a dream come true to me. Everyone will know about his childhood, growing up years and you will hear it from him. For the first time he has spoken about it," Banu told reporters here.


Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao

Aamir recited a poem penned by Prasoon Joshi and few actors came on stage to share their experiences about the veteran actor. "It is a big day and I am big fan of Yusuf (Dilip Kumar) sahab. It is a memorable day. He is such an inspirational figure to me right through my career. I have learnt so much from him. Every time I watch his work I feel am discovering him each time. I am thrilled to be here," Aamir said.

"I am looking forward to read the book where we will get to know about his life, his experiences and it will be an opportunity for me to learn something from this," he said. The event was hosted by filmmaker Karan Johar and was attended by Bollywood personalities like Jeetendra, Vyjayanthimala, Zeenat Aman, Danny Denzongpa, Javed Akhtar, Salim Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Dharmendra, Madhuri Dixit, Priyanka Chopra, Subhash Ghai, Raju Hirani, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Riteish Deshmukh, Kiran Rao among others.

Noted actor Jeetendra said he was a big fan of Dilip Kumar and felt honoured to be present at the book launch. "I learnt a lot by just looking and observing him," he said. "It is a great honour to be here. He is a legend. He is fond of music and it is a great opportunity for all of us to be here. I hope he has long life. We are really proud of him," Ali Khan said.

On the occasion, Madhuri said, "He is a legendary actor and a book on him is something I am looking forward to. He has been an inspiration not only to actors but to everyone. As an actor I would like to know how he approached his roles and what he went through when he played the roles."

The veteran actor was born as Mohammad Yusuf Khan but adopted the screen name of Dilip Kumar. In a career spanning over six decades, he gave hits like 'Madhumati, 'Devdas', 'Mughal-e-Azam', 'Ganga Jamuna', 'Ram Aur Shyam, 'Karma' and others. He was crowned as the 'Tragedy King' for playing a doomed lover in films like 'Andaz', 'Baabul', 'Mela', 'Deedar' and 'Jogan' and others. Dilip Kumar was last seen in film 'Qila' in 1998. He was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 1991 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994.