Pak PM, Russian envoy mourn Dilip Kumar’s demise

New Delhi [India] July 7 (ANI): Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday paid tribute to veteran Indian actor Dilip Kumar who passed away this morning in a Maharashtra hopsital and said that he can never forget his generosity in helping to raise funds for a trust to set up cancer hospitals in his mother’s memory.

Remembering the “greatest and most versatile actor”, Khan in a tweet said: “Saddened to learn of Dilip Kumar’s passing. I can never forget his generosity in giving his time to help raise funds for SKMTH when the project launched. This is the most difficult time – to raise first 10 per cent of the funds and his appearance in Pakistan and London helped raise huge amounts”.

“Apart from this, for my generation Dilip Kumar was the greatest and most versatile actor,” he said in a subsequent tweet.

Meanwhile, Nikolay Kudashev, the Russian Ambassador to India, also condoled the demise of Dilip Kumar and said “With deep regret, we have learned about the tragic demise of the prominent Indian actor, Bollywood veteran Dilip Kumar, well-known in Russia and in the whole world.”

He termed the actor’s demise as an irreplaceable and terrible loss for the cinema art and urged everyone to mourn together with Dilip’s family and friends.

Dilip Kumar breathed his last on Wednesday morning at Mumbai’s PD Hinduja Hospital. He was admitted on June 30 after he complained of breathlessness.

Known as Tragedy King, Dilip Kumar’s career spanned over six decades. He acted in over 65 films in his career and is known for his iconic roles in movies like ‘Devdas’ (1955), ‘Naya Daur’ (1957), ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ (1960), ‘Ganga Jamuna’ (1961), ‘Kranti’ (1981), and ‘Karma’ (1986). His last film was ‘Qila’, which was released in 1998. The evergreen icon is now survived by his wife and veteran actor Saira Banu. (ANI)