Dilip Kumar's ancestral home in Pakistan to be turned into museum

Legendary Indian actor Dilip Kumar's ancestral home, which was declared a national heritage by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is at risk of collapse after two-storeys of the dilapidated property caved in.

The house, spread over 130 square metre, was even declared a protected monument. Two storeys have already collapsed in places.

Dilip Kumar's Peshawar house. Pic: Agencies

Many portions of the structure have already collapsed with old furniture strewn around on the ground floor and inside the compound of the house, photographs published in the media here showed.

But now his ancestral home in Peshawar city will be converted into a museum and a national heritage site, said Pakistan's provincial government in Khyber Pakthunkhwa.

In the first phase, the damaged portion of Dilip's house in Mohallah Khuddadad at the back of historic Qissar Khwani bazar in Peshawar would be repaired, Director Musuem Peshawar and Research Officer Bakht Muhammad said.

Hindi cinema icons like Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Aamir Khan along with veteran actress and wife Saira Banu launched thespian Dilip Kumar’s long-awaited autobiography “The Substance and The Shadow” in his presence on June 9, 2014. (Sanskriti Media and Entertainment)

The construction process of the house would be completed in four phases to bring it back to its original glory, he said, adding, the house would be preserved and converted into a museum so that it could remain a national heritage.

The legendary actor, who was born as Yousuf Khan in Peshawar in 1922, is enormously loved in both countries, and for years, there have been requests in Pakistan for salvaging his ancestral home.

Dilip Kumar was born Yusuf Khan in Peshawar and spent the first seven years of his life here. In the late 1930s, his family relocated to Mumbai.

The Bollywood actor, also known as 'Tragedy King' was conferred Pakistan's highest civilian award, Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Order of Excellence) in 1998.

The 92-year-old actor also shares a special-bond with the house and it was here, in this house, that, "my sense of storytelling was ignited," Dilip wrote in his autobiography - 'Dilip Kumar: The Substance and the Shadow'.

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