It took a bit of encouragement from his old friend Amitabh Bachchan, but Dilip Kumar finally did take the plunge to join the popular micro-blogging website, Twitter. The veteran actor opened his account with the twitter handle @TheDilipKumar and posted his first tweet on his 89th birthday on December 11.

His first tweet, appreciating the love from his fans, read, “Thank you all of you who have made my simple life so rich with all your love”. This was received with instant overwhelming response and birthday wishes, and was seen trending on Twitter too.

The actor, who has stayed away from the media glare owing to ill-health, already has close to 1,500 followers. He, however, is following only two people, Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, whom Kumar and his wife Saira Banu are also close to. Bachchan, who met Kumar on his birthday on Sunday, welcomed him on the micro-blogging site, announcing his handle with the tweet, “Please welcome the Master, the Thespian, the Ultimate .. Dilip Kumar, Dilip Saheb, Yusuf Khan”.