Naseeruddin Shah says Dilip Kumar once told him to pack up and ‘go home’, reflects on offending late superstar’s fans by questioning his legacy

Recalling an incident from his youth, when Dilip Kumar dissuaded him from pursuing acting, he said, “He told me, ‘People from decent families don’t join the film business. You are from a good family, your father is a respectable man, forget all this and go back home’. If I had the courage, I would’ve asked him how he ended up here then. But I didn’t have the courage, and he sent me packing back home. We met years later again, during the shooting of Karma, but I didn’t try to remind him of our earlier encounter. He must be meeting thousands of aspiring actors like me, and I don’t think he would’ve remembered.”

In his piece for the Indian Express, Naseeruddin Shah had written, “Given the position he was in, it is more than evident he didn’t do enough apart from acting and being involved in social causes close to his heart… He never passed on the benefit of his experience, didn’t bother to groom anyone, and apart from his pre-1970s performances, left behind no significant lessons for future actors.”