MUMBAI: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in Pakistan, in a tribute to veteran Dilip Kumar, has granted the status of ‘national heritage‘ to the star’s house in Peshawar.

The house with six rooms was located at Mohallah Khudadad, Qissa Khwani Bazaar.The government purchased the land for Rs 30 million from a local.

Averred Kumar in a statement, "The news that the house where I was born (1922) and where I spent a good part of my childhood in Peshawar‘s Qissa Khwani Bazaar, then in Undivided India, will be given the honour of being a part of the national heritage of Pakistan has sent my mind racing back to memories of happy days spent in the spacious home and its surroundings. This morning many of you asked me to blog about it.

"I am at once full of fond remembrances of my parents, grandparents and numerous uncles, aunts and cousins who filled the house with the sounds of their chatter and hearty laughter. I can vividly recall the piggy rides on my grandfather‘s back and the scary stories my grandmother cooked up to forbid me from wandering out of the house alone."

Known as the ‘Tragedy King of Bollywood‘, Kumar said that he has penned down all this in his autobiography that is due to release soon. The star was born as Muhammad Yusuf Khan at Mohalla Khudadad in Qissa Khwani Bazaar on 11 December 1922.

Incidentally, Peshawar has produced some gems in the field of performing arts like Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan, to name a few.