In his recent autobiography 'Dilip Kumar: The Substance and Shadow', the legendary actor recounts how his patriotic eloquence met a fate he had never imagined!
In pre-independent India, during his stay at Poona (as Pune was known then), Dilip Kumar worked at a canteen in Air Force cantonment when one day, at the behest of a senior colleague, he made a speech about India's superiority as nation a nation of hard-working, truthful and non-violent people.
"I was taken away to the Yerwada Jail and locked up in a cell with some decent-looking men, who I was told were satyagrahis (followers of Mahatma Gandhi who offered passive resistance). On my arrival the jailor referred to me as a 'Gandhiwala'" Kumar recalls.
The actor said, "I could not figure out why he was using this term for me till I heard the policemen refer to all the inmates of the cell as Gandhiwalas. It was their way of herding us together as followers of Gandhiji."
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"I don't know why, but I too felt I should fast with them. So I refused the food that was that was brought for me in an unclean plate. The night was long and pangs of hunger kept me awake till dawn," Kumar recalls.
An army major got Kumar released the next morning from the and after reaching his workplace he narrated the happenings to everyone there.