Happy Birthday Grandpa! 99 years old today! Which is, I think, the longest anyone in our family has ever lived. At least, that we know about 🙂

Grandpa!

He is older than Dilip Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, even than Raj Kapoor would be if he had lived. Grandpa was 10 years old when the first Indian film talkie released, and a young man already married when Raj Kapoor’s first movie came out. He was 26 the year India gained Independence. WWI ended just 3 years before he was born, and he is one of only 2% of WWII veterans still living. He is a few months older than Betty White, and a few months younger than Prince Phillip.

And just in case anyone ever says to you that it is too hard to learn about Indian film, they are too old and set in their ways, you can tell them that my Grandpa started watching Indian movies when he was 90 and his favorite movie is Jodha-Akbar.