Tragedy king's memories keep Tindharia sad and nostalgic

The memorable scenes of Dilip Kumar dancing along the railway tracks on the famous song 'Chotisi Panchi' is still alive in the memories of Tindharia old-timers and moments with his co-actress and later wife, Saira Banu are still alive. Most of the movies, directed by the legendary director, Tapan Sinha was shot in Tindharia in the seventies, at a time when Kumar was unparalleled among the Bollywood actors.

Tindharia (West Bengal): Even as legendary actor and tragedy king Dilip Kumar passed away on Wednesday morning at the age of 98, an air of sadness and nostalgia is prevailing in Tindharia, a hamlet in Darjeeling, where he had shot various iconic scenes for his Bengali movie 'Sagina Mahato'.

The scenes of Dilip Kumar dancing along the railway tracks on the famous song “Chotisi Panchi” is still alive in the memories of Tindharia old-timers and moments with his co-actress and later wife, Saira Banu are still alive. Most of the movies, directed by the legendary director, Tapan Sinha was shot in Tindharia in the seventies, at a time when Kumar was unparalleled among the Bollywood actors.

READ: Did you know Dilip Kumar was discovered by Devika Rani in Nainital?

The shooting, which continued for 20 days, was done along the toy-trains tracks, adjacent mountains and springs and also at Tindharia bungalow and at various other places.

A scene from "Chotisi Panchi”

At one of the shooting places at famous Glenary’s restaurant, the crowd was so huge that the main glass window of the restaurant cracked. For the purpose of shooting on the railway tracks and using the toy train in the scenes, the producers had to make a security deposit of Rs 20 to the railway authorities.

Nothing has changed since then, except that Sagina Mahato is no more and it seems that Tindharia is still waiting for him.

READ: Dilip Kumar: A timeline of Tragedy King's journey in cinema

Now, much of the socio-political ambience of north Bengal has changed since Kumar came to Tindharia for shooting purposes.

Kirkit, a hilly village in Tindharia was selected by the director as the main venue of shooting. Local writer, Om Narayan Gupta, who had the chance to meet Kumar then said that Kumar was extremely soft-spoken. “The memories with him are simply unforgettable. His death brings the end of an era in Hindi cinema,” Gupta said.

Deoraj Mukhia, another resident of Tindharia, said that besides being a great actor Kumar was a great personality. “His acting style was simply unparalleled,” he said.