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National Heritage: KP govt pays Rs30 million for Dilip Kumar's house
KP culture minister says that the house will be preserved for future generations.
KP Culture Minister said, actors such as Dilip Kumar and Shahrukh Khan, who hailed from Peshawar, had made fans globally through their work. PHOTO: AFP
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has granted the status of ‘national heritage’ to the house of Indian film industry legend Dilip Kumar after purchasing the property from a local for a sum of Rs30 million.
Talking to APP, the provincial Culture Department said that the six-room house of the legendary actor, whose real name is Yousuf Khan, was located at Mohallah Khudadad, Qissa Khwani bazaar. It had been declared a national heritage as a tribute to the celebrated actor of Indian celluloid.
Kumar had left his house in 1942 before migrating to India. His relatives later sold it for Rs5.6 million.
“The repair and reconstruction work on the dilapidated house would be completed in few weeks and will later be opened for tourists and arts lovers,” sources added.
Earlier in December, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Culture and Information Mian Iftikahr Hussain had said that Bollywood stars Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor “were legends of this soil and their residences in Peshawar would be given the status of national heritage so as to preserve them for the coming generations.” He had expressed these views while visiting the residences of Kumar and Kapoor at Qissa Khwani. Provincial Culture Secretary Azmat Hanif Orakzai, Director Culture Pervez Khan and prominent artiste and head of Hunar Kada College Islamabad Jamal Shah were also present. The minister had directed the culture secretary to immediately contact the owners of the houses for its acquisition in exchange for payment.
Speaking about talent in the province, the minister had said,“Kumar or Yousuf Khan, was the son of Peshawar who has won the hearts of millions of movie lovers in Pakistan and India. The soil of KP, particularly Peshawar, was rich in talent, having produced great personalities in the field of performing arts like Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan, Badar Munir, Firdous Jamal and Qavi Khan, who had millions of fans globally.”
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Very well done. We should own our heroes and our heritage.
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Excellent.
One for Nur Jehan as well please.
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Funny; people migrated from Peshawar fearing for their lives before partition, and now even native people of Peshawar are migrating to other places to save their lives from everyday explosions, kidnappings, daytime murders. Every house will become a museum in the long runRecommend
@Sajjad Ashraf:
Dillip Kumar and Shahrukh Khan are our heroes? seriously KPK Gov. should have spend that money on fighting terrorism, or should have build some schools or helped the terrorism affectees
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@Colonel: Mr. Jinnah wanted our relations like US-Canada and so did other Indian leaders. Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Rahat saheb are my heroes too along with yours. We speak the same language, eat same kind of (spicy) food, look the same…Chill dude!Recommend
It is a foolish step taken by KP Government. Girls schools and college are being destroyed by Taliban with the help of Indian Government and the idiot governemnt making measum of their artists.
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Agree with both Sajjad Ashraf and Indian: This is an excellant step from the Pukhtunkhwa government.
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@Colonel; What is your problem man, i am reading your comments on every blog you are so negative, pessimistic and assertive in your opinion. Before you pass judgements please beaware our roots and history. Dont you know Khanna Brothers (Vinnod Khanna father and brother) Had only book store in Peshawar before partition or say before 1938. Back in 1988 when Dalip Kumar visited Radio Pakistan Peshawar, he asked for taking truck load of soil from Peshawar just lay it in foundations of his house in Delhi. Same Vinnod Khanna did, and Raj Kumar. Read these biographies you will see how much they love there houses, specially Pesahwar. All i will say money well spend. And if you are so worried about problems of society, my question to you is Do you have the will to change? Read Quran what Allah says about nations and their fate. Come on man, If you want to double check my claim about dalip kumar and others please go to radio Pakistan Peshawar station, ask for Station Director Hameed Asghar (rtd) he will tell you, becasue he was the one who was station director at the time when they came to Peshawar and Programms were held in Radio Peshawar Hall. Thx.
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Dilip Kumar is one of the most beloved ‘muslim’ in India. This is where the worthless and bloody divide of hindu and muslims vanishes. Let his example be the guiding light to brings the twins, India and Pakistan, together for a peaceful and loving relationship.Culturally we are same, it is the rotten politics of the British at partition of ‘divide and destroy’ that has destroyed both the countries. Please stop hate politics of the radicals and make both countries peaceful and prosperous.
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If the “dilapidated house” of Yusuf Khan urf Dilip Kumar is worth Rs 30 million, of how much more worth shall it be when it is repaired and reconstructed and he takes residence in it? India would not mind if he moves back into his ancestral home in the interest of “Bhai-Bhai” between our two nations!
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How long are we going to be the salves of hatred, voilence & intolerance? Learn from the teachings of the holy Prophet (PBUH).
http://norasensation.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/the-profound-teachings-of-prophet-muhammad/
Give peace a chance and let us live like good neighbors. I love Pakistan and its people. In fact, this is one place I want to visit before I die.
Can’t wait to come to Lahore and eat the famous street food over there :)
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Very nice to hear… love from India…Recommend
Those nations who donot love their greats become devoid of ‘greats’. This is what is happening to Pakistan.
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I would love to visit Dilip Kumar’s house when ever I happen to visit Sharae kissa khwani.This information should be put on tourist brochure for the tourist to this historic town,
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Government did right i guess but the other people who are arguing are asking to primarily focus on schools and hospitals for the locals.
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Love it- hats off for KP government.
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Sure, lets keep taking (false) pride in everything which is in India and Indian, and not build anything up in Pakistan. Living with half baked truths and lies is the reason we are doomed today in any case.
Why don’t we just concentrate on improving our lot and identity in Pakistan through education, art, culture, science and our own (Pakistani) movies?
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How about Dev Anand?
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Dilipkumar should move after his house in Pakistan is repaired.
The house he resides in Mumbai actually is a rented house.
If Dilipkumar would give custody of this house to its owners after more than 50 years they will be very very happy because it must now be worth 100s of millions of rupees.
In fact Dilipkumar tried to earn lot of money from a developer by allowing him to build multi story building. This was a violation of lease because he does not own this building. Owner took him to the court. I am not sure what the status of this lawsuit is at this time.
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@Saidullah Khan:
I think Dilipkumar and Prithviraj kapoor left their ancestral house before partition for better opportunity in then Bombay
Unlike NoorJahan Dilip Kumar was wise not to go back after partition that turned out be a great decision on his part
It really is amazing that the big Khans’ family migrated to India at a time when thousands of Muslims were leaving their houses in India to migrate to Pakistan
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@Striver:
I belive that Noor Jahan’s residenece was demolished…
What a shame! We need to preserve our history and our old architectural buildings…
KPK Government has actually done a wonderful thing…
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What to say on this??Literally Pain in Heart and Tears in Eyes(not of misery but of satisfaction).
Hamare Rishte bhi Ajeeb hote hain(In Dileep Kumar’s familier tone)
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Sorry, to spoil the party!
Dilip Kumar may be a great actor, but he betrayed his roots.Firstly he took a hindu name ( I know, it’s for films only) for convenience’s sake and left his homeland for India undermining the Pakistan cause.
And as for Raj Kapoor,Vinod Khanna and Dev Anand’s properties, nobody needs to pay anybody; they are by law has become enemy properties.Get real.
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Though the intention to safeguard the property may have been done with a clean heart; I cannot help but feel that it was a scandalous waste of tax payer money!
Surely, a far greater investment of treasury funds would have been upgrading the local schooling system both in quality and quantity.
These so called leaders are so myopic, they can’t project and think ahead in time and how the benefits of one educated individual treacle down to create a positive, balling effect on the wider community.
The property could have easily remained in private hands yet still protected from redevelopment via a court order sighting that it is of special architectural or historical interest.
It’s about time the leaders of this country got their priorities sorted.
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National Heritage? Seriously, these guys definitely know how to spend public money wisely, not.
I’m all good for anything that creates a friendly relationship between both countries but this is ridiculous, this money could have been used for the poor people of the region.
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A very good and timely decision by KP government indeed. Especially at the time when both the countries are at its best to ensure brotherhood, friendship and harmony. Infact, this could turn out as a great gesture on our part to win the hearts of people on the other side of the border. We must not forget at the time when King of Ghazal Mehdi Hassan Khan fell seriously ill, Mr Talat a renowed singer from India came all the way to Karachi to enquire about Khan Saheb’s health. He also contributed some amount for his medical treatment. Another thing I would also like to mention is that this is beyond faith & religion but only humanity. Respect each other and start to trust each other….My thoughts……!
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@Colonel and other like minded>..
You guys are very short sighted advocating expenditure of that money for educations and bla bla bla.. I think KP GOVT is doing that as well, spending money on education, establishining new universities.. In order for the nations to progress you need to take a holistic approcah for development. In regrads to this paprticular thing, when it will become national heritage, more and more tourists wull visit and will generate more revenue that that 30 million alongside jobs.. So plz think before you jump on your keyboards.
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If I were Dilipkumar I would have spent my money (I earned plenty thanks to my fans from all Indian communities) to restore my ancestors’ house long time ago. After all I was awarded the highest honor Nishane Pakistan by Pakistan. (Please forgive if I did not spell the name of the award correctly)
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if the relations would normalize i would also love to visit Pakistan once before my death. but i know we will keep on fighting like this forever. we will never grow up.
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Taliban will destroy schools and hospitals. Better option is to spend all the money on ancestral homes, memorial halls or donations.
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@KDP: sorry but dev anand isn’t a muslimRecommend
Pakistanis appreciate their religion nothing else.total hypocracyRecommend
ANP leaders must have made money from this. the market value of this old house must not be as much as 30 million. I have seen its video on TV channels and it would cost most on its repair. I am sure that its price cannot be more than 10 million.
Moreover, an Indian actor who never lived in Pakistan after its creation, can be our national hero or his house our national heritage.
ANP leaders are known as pro-Indians.
Can any body tell us that how many houses of the Muslims who had migrated from India to Pakistan had been given similar status in India? Great Quaid-e-Azam, Liaqat Ali Khan and many more political leaders, scientists like A. Q. Khan, and many more, musicians like Mehdi Hassan and lot others, actors, etc. etc. had migrated from India to Pakistan. What about their houses in Indian. Would Indians give their house the similar status? It is an open questionRecommend