Early lifeHe was born Muhammad Yusuf Khan, in Qissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar in Dec 11, 1922 ,then Undivided India. Peshawar is part of Pakistan since 1947. Yusuf Khan was born to a Hindko-speaking Peshawari family of Afghan origin with twelve children. His father, Lala Ghulam Sarwar was a fruit merchant and owned large orchards in Peshawar and Deolali in Maharashtra near Nashik. The family relocated to Mumbai in 1930s and in the early 1940s Yusuf Khan moved to Pune and started off with his canteen business and supplying dry fruits.
In 1943, Devika Rani, who was also the wife of the founder of Bombay Talkies, Himanshu Rai, helped his entry into the Bollywood film industry. Mr. Amiya Chakravarty also gave him the screen name of Dilip Kumar and starred him in Dilip Kumar's first movie Jwar Bhata. Devika and her husband Roerich spotted the young and smart looking Yusuf Khan in one of Pune's Aundh military canteen.
