Why is Dilip Kumar silent nowadays?

Mumbai: Bollywood's greatest Tragedy King Dilip Kumar is hardly seen in public nowadays because of his old age (he celebrated his 90th birthday last year on Dec 11 2011). One of the living legends of Bollywood, Dilip Kumar appears rarely at public events, but hardly speaks. He last appeared on May 5 this year at an awards function organised by Dadasaheb Phalke Academy in a hotel in Juhu Parle, Mumbai. The event was attended by Big B and other Bollywood stars. Dilip Kumar came with his wife Saira Bano (his companion of 46 years), but hardly spoke. His expressive eyes had a vacant stare, and the legend appeared to be in deep thought. In February this year, he attended two wedding receptions - one, of Aamir Khan's nephew Imran, and the other, of Ritesh Deshmukh's wedding with Genelia D'Souza. At both the receptions, the Tragedy King walked slowly, with both his hands held by Saira Bano and another person. Gone was the strident voice of Thakur Veer Singh of film Saudagar, as Dilip Kumar sat silent throughout the events. At his 90th birthday celebrated on December 11, 2011 at his iconic bungalow in Pali Hill, the who's who of Bollywood arrived to felicitate the living legend. Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Shatrughan Sinha, Shah rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Yash Chopra were there. Dharmendra danced in glee to celebrate Dilip saab's birthday. He coaxed Dilip Kumar to blow off the birthday cake candles, which the tragedy king did. Shatrughan Sinha asked Dilip to cut the birthday cake, but the actor hardly listened. Finally, both Shatrughan and Saira Bano held the knife in Dilip's hands, and the legend cut his birthday cake. Yet, there was no conversation on the part of India's greatest tragedy king. Bollywood regulars say, the last they heard Dilip Kumar speak was at an event, where the actor, with his face reddened, wanted to scream 'silence, silence' but his voice hardly reached people in his vicinity. The man who rebuked Amitabh Bachchan onscreen in 1982 in the film Shakti, could hardly raise his voice in 2012, thirty years later. At the event, Dilip Kumar was unhappy with the disorganized manner in which the function was being held. He had to be guarded on either side by Big B and Saira Bano. As Dilip saab alongwith Saira left the dais in a huff towards his car, the organisers ran up to him and begged him to return. Dilip said in a soft voice: "hat jao" (please leave). Dilip Kumar was once popular for his flowery Urdu phrases, whenever he spoke at public events. His pauses, his beautiful turn of phrases both in English and Urdu, was a treat for listeners. But the Tragedy King is silent nowadays.