‘Fell in love with Dilip Kumar at 12, don’t remember a thing about Madhubala,’ Saira Banu recalls meeting late husband on Mughal-E-Azam set

Sairaji, I know you have lost all enthusiasm for celebrations after Dilip Saab’s death, so what does this birthday mean to you?

I don’t think about birthdays. Life has lost all meaning without him. Life is totally different. Yet, I am so grateful to the Almighty.

For those years you had with him?

Yes. So grateful to the Almighty that I’m here to look after his things, to try and mend whatever is broken, trying to uphold everything that he upheld in his life, trying to do the kind of things that would always make him happy. I tried in my marriage also, to change myself totally to what he wanted.

ALSO READ | Dilip Kumar broke up with Madhubala because she couldn’t bear children, doctor told her she’d die if she tried: ‘When he found out…’

Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu got married in 1966. (Photo: Express Archives)

Didn’t you miss being a star after marrying Yusuf saab?

There was no duress about it. I wanted to be as he wanted me to be. And I had a whole lot of happiness in that. If he said, ‘Come and wear saris, you look good in saris.’ I immediately did that. If he didn’t like my pinks that I wore, coral color or red colors or flamboyant colors, I stopped using colours. He always preferred white, you know, very subtle colors. I changed to that. I changed to fluffy cottons to make me look a little more, you know, meaningful. I was a very thin girl at that time, at the time of my marriage. I have beautiful memories, beautiful memories.

What is the best gift Yusuf saab ever gave?

Oh my God, you can imagine that my most wonderful gift in life, a birthday gift or a best gift in life is Yusuf saab himself, for whom I had clamored to God since I was 12 years old. Let Allah give me this man as my husband.

Do you remember when you first met him?

How can I ever forget? I was as young as 12 because I had seen him in a film for the first time in my childhood in London when I was studying, and that was it. I had seen that and I lost my heart to him. And in my holidays, when I would come here to India, to Mumbai, because my mother always brought us back home. My mother and my grandmother wanted us siblings to have our desi culture.

So you met the man of your dreams as a school girl?

When I came to India, we would run into Yusuf saab, and then my mother’s friends from America arrived and they wanted to see the shooting of Mughal-e-Azam. I think Mughal-e-Azam must have been winding up at that time with the Sheesh Mahal set. And I saw him there and I don’t remember a thing about the Sheesh Mahal. I don’t remember a thing about the gorgeous, beautiful Madhubala as Anarkali.

ALSO READ | Madhubala asked to see ex-lover Dilip Kumar after he got married, his wife Saira Banu insisted that they should meet: ‘Shehzade ko unki shehzadi mil gayi’

Dilip Kumar and Madhubala in a still from Mughal-e-Azam.

All eyes for your real life Salim?

I just remember looking at Yusuf saab, standing there in a white shirt and pants. He had folded his arms and he called my mother Aapaji. He was ever so respectful of Aapaji and ever so fond of my family.

So the best gift ever?

So, the best birthday gift that you ask, is Yusuf saab himself. I have learned everything that I have learned from him, from my mother, from my grandmother, from my brother. And I’ve been so blessed with such a closed-knit family, just four of us, you know.

One last question, there is so much speculation about your health?

There is a lot of speculation about my health, that has always been there the past 40 years. God forbid there were such terrible rumors. And now my health factor, of course, is disturbing because unfortunately, my blood pressure goes up and down and I have pain in my knees. My life is good. My life is spent in meditation. My life is spent in helping others, whatever I can. And my life is spent in the beautiful memory of my gorgeous husband and my gorgeous, wonderful family. I live here in my old house and this is what makes me happy.