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During her vacations to India, a young girl studying in London accompanied her mother to a series of get-togethers and social gatherings. Some of these were social commitments with a tableau of whispered conversations and classical music.But some were predestined to happen; how could Saira Banu meet her Dilip Sahab if she had not been there?
“I first saw him when I was around 12 or 13. He was a man so different from any other. I used to accompany my mother (Pari Chehra – Naseem Banu) in my school holidays from London to get-togethers because she was very friendly. She was like a sister to Akhtar Aunty (Mrs. Mehboob Khan of Mehboob Studios),” she recollects.
She first noticed him during one of the soirees at Akhtars — a figure of effortless charm and quiet allure. “At the entrance stood a man in white clothing, white shirt and trousers, and he held his arms criss-crossed. He was standing with much respect for Mrs Mehboob and my mother Naseem ji. He seemed to exude an aura. To my young eyes, it seemed like a light around him, as you can see in paintings. He had such an impression on my young mind that I came home and spoke about him to my mother. I told her, ‘What an unusual-looking man, what a good human being. Aisa lagta hai ke bilkul alag hai, logo se bilkul alag hai.’ I continued to feel this way even after returning to London.” That’s how Saira Banu remembers her first encounter with Dilip Sahab.
In her subsequent visits, he appears to be a recurring motif. She ran into him again at a musical night hosted at his home. Dilip Sahab’s elder sister had invited her mother to a Sitar recital at his home.”Waha maine unko dekha (I saw him there). He had such an impression on me that when I went back to London, I would write to my mother and do follow-ups about him,” Saira remembers. Each encounter sparked a flutter in her heart that she dared not name at first.
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“I had seen Aan. That was his first movie that I saw in London. On my impressionable mind, it left such a mark. I told my mother, ‘If I ever marry when I grow up, I want to marry this man. This is what I want…’ and my mother laughed. She said, ‘Tum itni choti ho (you are so young). Yes, Yusuf is a wonderful man; he’s to be admired,” she adds.
It slowly evolved into a love that bloomed unexpectedly but irrevocably. Saira says, “Everyone knows that my life with him has been charmed absolutely. I had just two aims: to be a famous movie actress like my mother, and the other…When I went to sleep at night, I would pray with folded hands to Allah, ‘Please Allah, when I grow up, I want to live to be Mrs Dilip Kumar.”
She never had the chance to reconsider, nor does she wish she had; the pull of their connection was as undeniable as it was inexplicable. Unbeknownst to them, the universe was silently orchestrating their love story, weaving together threads of chance and destiny. Their romance, born amidst the backdrop of those fleeting moments, would transcend time, inspiring countless others with its timeless allure.
The teenager’s feeling of butterflies in her stomach persisted to stay on. She smiles at the very mention of their romance. “So, everyone knows the story. They have heard about it billions of times, and god has been kind. He gave me Yusuf, and you know how many people would’ve wanted to marry him. Such beautiful ladies, such gorgeous ladies who were already counting on marrying him. God has been so kind; he turned everything around for me, and I got to be his wife,” she says with a perceivable gratitude in her voice.
She continues, “It’s a funny thing, but I always told Yusuf: It really doesn’t matter if you would say lovely things to me. I would joke with him that it really doesn’t matter. The issue is not whether you love me and how much you love me. I love you enough for both of us.” She recollects that he would laugh at this.
Slowly, she turned everything around. She merrily stopped working in the industry despite being at the pinnacle of her career. “I needed to just look after him, I wanted to be with him. I wanted to travel with him; I didn’t want to be away from him for a moment, and eventually, it was my decision to give up my work; he never forced me. He never asked me to. He was such a great man. He never told me why this, why that – never,” she asserts.
“He taught me how to love everyone. How to be humble in life. He taught me so many things. What can I talk about him? What can I say about him? He has been everything to me. He has been everything, she adds.
Dilip Sahab had a similar aura and left an indelible impact as an actor. “According to me, he has been the almighty actor of Indian Cinema and a true picture of humility with dignity. Not just the greatest actor but also the greatest human being. I think he has been a source of inspiration for over six generations of actors who believe they are whatever they are today because of the inspiration they found in him,” she opines. She adds that director Subhash Ghai, who was actually trained as an actor at the FTII, had seen Devdas some 90 times to write a thesis on Dilip Sahab.
“I think acting is not a horse race in which the one who runs the fastest past the post is the winner. I think versatility is the true of all mog of an actor. Dilip Sahab stands tall when it comes to that yardstick. I cannot forget the intensity of Devdas. I am sure no one can. The fiery essence of Ganga of Ganga Jamuna. The buoyant, the fiery Shyam. Then we have the depth of romance as Salim in Mughal-e-Azam. Each performance – finely orchestrated. He plays the sophisticated and the rustic man with equal felicity. Drama, comedy, romance, he is master of them all and he has become a reference point for actors within the mainstream cinema,” she adds.
She describes his legacy: “Dilip Sahab has changed the course of acting in Hindi cinema, which largely depended on acting in broad strokes. Laugh when happy, cry when sad, and raise eyebrows when surprised, but Dilip Sahab showed us how to play against emotions. How less is more and how stimulated spontaneity can be as effective as the real thing.”
Last year, Saira Banu made her debut on social media. For someone who had lived a large part of life on the screen and then left it all, what prompted her decision? “This is an excellent question because I’ve been so quiet and in limbo, and I don’t tend to do shows or go out anywhere. I’m more of a home bird. I always have been, except when I had to attend functions with Dilip Sahab,” she confides.
She plans to dedicate her account to remembering Dilip Sahab. “Toh chote chote kisse joh mai bataungi woh logo ko pata thodi hai, this is what I want to do. One day, maybe I can do kind of a coffee table book, with his anecdotes and very unusual photographs where he is aping me,” she shares, intriguing us to request an anecdote.
“I would have mehendi applied on my hair when we suddenly received a call inviting Dilip Sahab to attend an event. I would just wrap my hair in a turban and wear a nice dress to accompany him. It won’t even be noticed that I have mehndi in my hair. Aur unka haath pakad ke mai aise hi chal padti thi. I had to be with him and bask in his shadow. I never had any kind of self-consciousness. I never thought, what am I doing?”
She shares another anecdote about when she travelled with him without even a pair of clothing to change. “If he was travelling without me to a function, I had to stay back. When I went to see him off at the airport dressed up in a cotton salwar kameez suit, he would suddenly ask, ‘Saira, what are you doing?’ I would reply that my shooting schedule for today has been cancelled, so I’m not doing anything. I’m just seeing him off. So what does Dilip sahab say? He says, if that’s the case, why don’t you come along?”
Those days, air tickets were issued from the counters, so buying one at the last moment wasn’t tricky. “So the secretary would run into the counter and buy a ticket for me, and I, along with Yusuf Sahab, would just travel across. Maybe he was off to Madras to attend a wedding. And I would have no suit to wear except the cotton suit I’m wearing. So, I would attend the functions in the same suit. We did mad things like that. I had no complex about this. It was just enough basking in Yusuf Sahab’s shadow. When he would take me to the events holding my hand, that cotton suit would turn into a brilliant dress,” she shares with a hint of nostalgia.
We conclude the long conversation by probing her about what’s next.
“The legacy of Dilip Kumar is forever and ever Inshallah god-be-like. With people like you and fans who love or remember him, you know you must all help me do something that will forever remember him,” she replies.
What exactly would that be? “I am trying to conjure up in my mind. Should it be a kind of museum, or should I do something else? Even if we just display awards and trophies, a museum is very meaningful. But it has to be something more venturesome as of today. I am trying to think of things and collaborating with people. Wish me luck on that, the legacy of Dilip Kumar, an institution,” she pauses before continuing, “As you can see, I can talk about him forever and ever. Right into the night and right into the morning with a whole lot of love and affection. I have grown up with him. We have grown up together, and there are many things I can talk about. It has been a wonderful life, and I thank god for it.
Saira Banu shares an unseen video of late Dilip Kumar on his 101st birth anniversary: ‘He proved to be the most wondrous husband…’
There were many other things Saira Banu had to share in this interview. Some were trimmed, and some delved deeper into. Yet, one thing that continues to emerge is her love and affection for her Dilip Sahab. Even today, any mention of her Dilip Sahab is permanently stitched in the present tense for Saira Banu. Such is love!