On December 11, thespian Dilip Kumar turned 86. On this occasion, erstwhile Screen editor and family friend Udaya Tara Nayar gleans nuggets from his forthcoming autobiography that she has compiled. She counts how their friendship flourished over the last four decades, so much so that Dilipsahab has crowned her the world's best idli-maker!.

It all began with Republic Day quotes

S.S. Pillai, the then-editor of Screen (also my father) sent me with senior reporter R M Kumtakar to get Dilipsahab's quotes on Republic Day for the special issue. That was in 1968 when I had already put in a year's active service and I was well-groomed enough to meet superstar Dilip Kumar. As a kid I had met him many times with dad but this was our first meeting in professional capacity. He was then preparing for a film to be directed by Jabbar Patel. He was sketching the look of the character he was to play. He had an easel in front of him - he had already sketched the hills where the film was to be located, he had also sketched Saira Banu's character as a hillside belle. I watched him in awe. After RMK asked his serious questions Sahab asked me: "You little girl, now tell me what do you want?" I promptly fired my questions. He answered me patiently. Then he started asking me questions about Indian cinema - how much I knew about ‘Durga Khote’ and ‘Devika Rani’, the films I had watched and how I would review those if I had to do so. I answered his questions with utmost sincerity and in the evening when Mr Pillai called him to talk about something he told dad: "Your daughter is talented. She will go places." I was so flattered! But my father warned me that I should concentrate on working hard.

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