When Dilip Kumar called his first mobile “That damned thing”

By Ali Peter John -

September 5, 2018 - 8:00 AM IST

It was 5 in the evening and Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu had finished having their tea and snacks. The actor was to leave for a meeting in South Bombay and his beautiful wife said she had a surprise for him and he looked puzzled and went up to get ready and came down looking smart in a dark blue suit, a red tie and a scarf around his shoulders. Saira touched the two sides of her forehead which was a sign to show that she was shunning out all the buri nazar from her Sahab.

When Dilip Kumar called his first mobile “That damned thing”

Then she brought out an elegantly designed box from which she took out a gold plated mobile phone and pushed it quietly into one of his coat pockets. He asked her what the damned thing was. She said it was a mobile phone which could keep them in touch with each other all through the evening. He told her that he neither knew "head or tail" about that contraption, but Saira made sure that he kept it with him. Telling him that he would only receive her calls. He kept quiet and Saira told the driver, Kutti to take care of Sahab and see that he picked up the phone whenever it rang.

His Mercedes MRZ -288 left and the phone rang after 5 minutes. He gave the phone to Kutti and asked him to see what it was. The Kutti said it was Sairaji and the actor said, "abhi toh panch minute pehele baat huwi thi, bol do hum theek hai". Another 15 minutes later the phone rang again and the actor looked thoroughly disgusted. This time he took the call and told her he was at Haji Ali and told Kutti to switch off the phone but Kutti said it was madam's order to see that the phone was kept on. The phone rang again when the Mercedes had reached Ambassador Hotel near Churchgate. The phone didn't ring again for quite some time and Sahab looked relieved. But it was not going to give up. It Finally rang again and this time Saira's Sahab took the phone and almost blew his fuse and screamed into the phone and said, "What is this torture, Saira? Ha ha main Taj Mahal Hotel main hu" and she immediately shout back, "You are such a liar. You told me that you are going to the CCI Club and now you are having fun at the Taj ". Dilip Kumar gave away the expensive mobile to Kutti and took a vow never to touch that damned thing again in his life and he stuck by his decision till he finally fell sick to a very cruel ailment which he is still fighting.

Dilip Kumar is not the only one who has an aversion to mobiles. Dev Anand was presented with one by his wealthy friend and he just placed it in the back pocket of his jeans and forgot all about it. He never even knew his phone number (9821*****6). Gulzar had a mobile only when a new brand was presented to him by A R Rahman who said it would be good to cut down on their travelling between Mumbai and Chennai, but Gulzar has rarely used that mobile which is like a decoration piece for him.

They use to say, the most beautiful songs on telephone in the good old days. How will they sing their love songs on mobiles today?