Saira Banu once while she was in a conversation with a leading had recalled her first meet with the legendary actor Dilip Kumar. Recalling the incident she said she was just 12-years-old and instantly fell in love with the late veteran actor as she saw him.
In a conversation with the leading daily, she had said, “…I saw him for the first time in person at Mumbai’s Mehboob Studios- he was wearing a plain white shirt, white trousers and white chappals. And my God! He had such lovely free-flowing hair, just in sync with his song Ude Zulfen Jab Jab Teri from Naya Daur.”
Further praising his looks she said, “he looked so polished and sophisticated and so different from everyone around. It was a party by Mehboob Khan (director of Mother India) and I met him. I fell in love with him almost instantly; I was just 12 then. Even if he was leaning on a chair or standing against a wall, you could easily make out that this is a man of different fibre and of superior material.”
“Well, Dilip Saab was a family friend; he knew my parents. So we were always invited when there was a function at his place – and vice versa. Time rolled by. I did my first film Junglee and it became a hit. That film was the first one to bring the real colour on the big screen, which was Eastmancolor,” she added.
In 2012, while talking about their love story Dilip Kumar had said to Hindustan Times in an interview, “When I married Saira she was young, even younger than my sisters. I wondered how she would cope with establishing the right vibes with my brothers and sisters, especially since she belonged to a small family. We siblings were a dozen. But she not only respected and loved them as a devoted sister-in-law but also keeps me close to all of them.”
Actor Dilip Kumar passed away on July 7, 2021, at the age of 98. Social media is flooded with the people paying tributes to the star.
