The direction of Gunga Jumna was officially credited to Nitin Bose. An eminent director of the 1940s, Nitin Bose first worked with Dilip Kumar in Milan in 1946, an adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore’s novel Nauka Daubi. They also collaborated on Deedar considered one of Dilip Kumar’s finest performances.
By the time the actor-director came to Gunga Jumna, Nitin Bose had lost his directorial spunk and spirit. It was rumoured for years that Dilip Kumar directed every frame of Gunga Jumna. The actor eventually confirmed it.
In 1966 Dilip Kumar ghost-directed Dil Diya Dard Liya, an underrated adaptation of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, officially credited for direction to the eminent AR Kardar.
One of the film’s prominent actors revealed in a previous interaction, “Kardar saab was made to sit outside the studio, while Yusuf saab (Dilip Kumar) did the direction.”
Dilip Kumar also directed a lot of Bairaag in 1976 where he had a triple role.
He was to officially turn director with Kalinga in 1996. Producer Sudhakar Bokade idolized the thespian and insisted that he direct the film. But Kalinga was a mess from the start. Sunny Deol walked out of the film after shooting for two weeks, reportedly for being unable to understand Dilip saab’s direction. Jackie Shroff took over. After shooting nearly 7-8 hours of footage Kalinga was abandoned.
