Mahesh Bhatt has created a community on Facebook titled “Dilip Kumar for Bharat Ratna” with an aim to involve millions of Dilip Kumar’s fans. “Dilip Kumar, the icon is as old as the Indian film industry. He is the symbol of secular India and has an unmatched career record spanning from pre-independence years till the last decade,” said Mahesh Bhatt.
 
Mahesh Bhatt told, “It is the entire industry's effort. From every region, stalwarts have come out to appeal for him. I was just a foot soldier. It is the Indian film industry's effort, not an individual's effort.”

 
In fact, Mahesh Bhatt’s unique initiative has been supported by the members of Indian film fraternity as well. Along with Bollywood’s biggies Yash Chopra, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Rakesh Roshan, Subhash Ghai, Mukesh Bhatt and Ramesh Sippy, South Indian stars like Rajnikanth, Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi and Mamooty are supporting the move.
 
Sach Ka Saaman fame Rajeev Khandelwal is supporting the cause with other celebrities such as Mukul Dev, Shabbir Ahluwalia, Varun Badola, Randeep Hooda and Urvashi Dholakia. Noted film critic and filmmaker Khalid Mohammed, director Prabhakar Shukla and Bangladeshi singer Runa Laila have also joined the effort.
 
The members of the community “Dilip Kumar for Bharat Ratna” have been asked to “leave a comment or endorse by replying a one liner - I endorse that Dilip Kumar is the most deserving person to be honoured with the Bharat Ratna.” Many of his fans as well as members of the industry have put out individual comments.
 
Since its inception, the community has got awesome response from Facebook users. Till date, the community has over 1000 members and the number is increasing swelling every day.
 
The community has been created to seek 100,000 solidarity comments from people so that the administrators of the website can compile all the comments in a book and submit it to the President as well as the Prime Minister of India.
 
Renowned as the ‘Tragic King of Bollywood’, Dilip Kumar started his career in 1944, with Jwar Bhata and worked in over 60 movies. Married to actress Saira Bano, Dilip Kumar is known for his unparalleled performances in movies like Mughal-e-Azam, Madhumati, Naya Daur, Leader, Aadmi, Ram Aur Shyam, Gopi, Devdas, Ganga Jamuna, Kranti, Shakti and Karma.
 
Established in 1954 by the first President of India, Bharat Ratna has not been awarded to any actor. Satyajit Roy was the first person from the Indian entertainment industry to get the Bharat Ratna in 1992. Singer Lata Mangeshkar, Carnatic music vocalist MS Subbulakshmi, shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan, sitar player Ravi Shankar and classical singer Bhimsen Joshi have been honoured with the Bharat Ratna.
 
Dilip Kumar has been a source of inspiration for younger actors including millennium star Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Shahrukh Khan. Even today in his late 80s the great actor is carrying his legacy and he deserves India’s highest civilian honour. Hope the movement of Dilip Kumar’s fans and Indian film fraternity will be a success.