Dilip Kumar tried to broker peace between India-Pakistan during Kargil war; Bal Thackeray told him to leave the country: ‘After 65 years of being here…’

Dilip Kumar spoke to Pakistan PM during Kargil War, tried to defuse situation

This event came to light when a former Pakistani foreign minister, Khurshid Kasuri, visited India in 2015, and shared that the then-Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, called Nawaz Sharif to talk about the situation in Kargil. He then invited Dilip Kumar on the call, who also had a word with Sharif in May 1999. The ex-Principal Secretary to Sharif at the time, Saeed Mehdi, shared this anecdote with Kasuri, which he included in his book Neither a Hawk Nor a Dove. During his visit, he shared with PTI, “According to Saeed, one day he was sitting with PM Sharif when the telephone bell rang and the ADC informed the PM that the Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee wished to speak with him urgently.”

Dilip Kumar was born in Peshawar, Pakistan. He moved to Bombay in the 1930s. (Photo: Express Archives)

As the call proceeded, Vajpayee expressed that after his visit to Pakistan, they had escalated the matters and tried to occupy Kargil, which disappointed him deeply. Sharif had no idea about the situation in Kargil, or so he claimed. Before they could hang up, Vajpayee asked Sharif to speak to someone who was sitting next to him, and Dilip Kumar took this opportunity to pitch in. The conversation reportedly had Dilip saying, “Mian Sahib, we did not expect this from you since you have always claimed to be a great supporter of peace between Pakistan and India. Let me tell you as an Indian Muslim that in case of tension between Pakistan and India, Indian Muslims become very insecure and they find it difficult to even leave their homes. Please do something to control this situation.” It is said that after this call, the situation stabilised for a few days before it went downhill again, and the war continued for the next three months.

‘Will remain in India and die in India’

This wasn’t Dilip Kumar’s first brush with Pakistani politicians. The actor had previously visited Pakistan in 1988, which marked his first visit to Peshawar since the partition. Dilip was born in Pakistan but his family had shifted to Bombay (now Mumbai) in the late 1930s. At the time of the Partition, when his father was encouraged to move back to Peshawar, he put his foot down and said, “We will remain in India and die in India.” So when the opportunity arose to visit his hometown in 1988, Dilip was in two minds.

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In his biography, ‘Dilip Kumar: The Substance and the Shadow’, Dilip Kumar shared that Peshawar got its first blood bank in 1988 and a well wisher from the city wrote to Dilip Kumar to visit them for its inauguration. When he accepted the invitation, Zia-ul Haq, who was then the President of the country, decided to host him and turned it into a state visit. This, naturally, made international headlines. This “appalled and humbled” Dilip as he “was no head of state or envoy of the Indian Government to merit the honour.”

It was this visit that turned out to be quite emotional for Dilip Kumar as it was during his time in Peshawar that Raj Kapoor, his dear friend and colleague, got critically sick. The two could not exchange last words as by the time Dilip returned from their childhood town, Raj was in no state to talk. He passed away a couple of days later.

Dilip Kumar with passengers of PIA flight in which he travelled from Karachi to Peshawar. (Photo: Express Archives)

Bal Thackeray told Dilip Kumar to leave India, go back to Pakistan

Dilip visited Pakistan once again in 1998 when the Pakistani government announced that they would honour him with their highest civilian award, Nishan-e-Imtiaz. But the announcement raised many eyebrows in India, and the one who vocally opposed it was Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray. In the era was India was constantly trying to make peace with her neighbours, Balasaheb was vocally against the Pakistanis and his relationship with Dilip Kumar soured.

In the book Bal Thackeray and the Rise of the Shiv Sena, Vaibhav Purandhare quoted Thackeray as he said, “Abhi chana bhi hain, beer bhi hain, lekin Dilip Kumar ke raaste badal gaye (There are snacks, there is beer, but Dilip Kumar’s path has changed now).” Dilip Kumar was quite upset by his remarks and in a comment to India Today, he said, “After 65 years of being here, I have to prove my loyalty to Thackeray.” Balasaheb also said that Dilip Kumar should leave India and live in Pakistan and in response, Dilip Kumar told NDTV, “Shiv Sena and their leader said that I should return the award and if I don’t return the award then I should leave this country, get back to Pakistan and live there. And I think it’s an abominable pronouncement by a responsible person; it has no legal validity. It’s hurtful. It offends one’s sense of personal dignity. One feels wronged and makes you feel angry.”

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Dilip Kumar then had a word with PM Vajpayee about the matter and he encouraged him to retain the honour. He recalled the episode in his book and shared, “As he eloquently (Vajpayee) put it: ‘You are an artiste and as such you are not restrained by political or geographical barriers. You have been chosen for the humanitarian work you have’.” A year later, when the Kargil War broke out, critics pointed out that at this point, Dilip should have returned his honour.

Dilip Kumar’s childhood home in Peshawar stands tall to this day. The house has been declared a protected monument by the government. In 2025, it was reported that the house might be converted into a museum.

Dilip Kumar passed away in 2021 at 98.