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Udaya Tara Nayar: Saira Banu dreamt of becoming Mrs Yousuf Khan at the age of 12
Updated On: 08 July, 2021 09:00 AM IST | Mumbai | The Hitlist Team
Journalist-author Udaya Tara Nayar remembers the everlasting romance of the eternal couple
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Dharmendra, Aamir Khan, Saira Banu and Amitabh Bachchan at the launch of Dilip Kumar’s biography — The Substance and the Shadow
I am often asked inquisitively at interactive get-togethers whether it is true that Saira Banu dreamed of marrying Dilip Kumar — the first real superstar of Indian cinema. [After all], he was the most successful star and eligible bachelor in the entertainment industry [in the ’60s]. As a friend, who has had the privilege of knowing [Banu] closely, I know that it is not true. I make it a point to correct the notion, Saira Banu began to dream of becoming Mrs Yousuf Khan when she was 12-years-old, still schooling in London. Her only link with Indian cinema then were the posters in the window of an Indian shop that invited her gaze while she walked to school. Her mother, Naseem Banu, the first ever beauty queen of Indian cinema, had consciously kept her away from the film world and its magnetic draw in the hope that her daughter would choose an occupation that guaranteed security and social esteem.
One afternoon, as usual, when Banu stopped to gaze at the shop window, she saw a poster of Aan [1952]. She looked into the intense, expressive eyes of the hero in the film’s credits and stood riveted and mesmerised. She knew he was the star of the highly successful Indian movie that was drawing full houses in the city but nothing more. He was handsome and had a touch of class that no other man she had seen had. Nor did she know that in real life he was Yousuf Khan and a colleague of her mother. The one thing she knew for sure was that she wanted to marry him when she was old enough. It was love at first sight. From then on, during every namaaz when she prayed for the well-being of her family members, she added a secret dua to fulfil her wish to marry Kumar. Her prayer was answered in 1966 when she achieved stardom with her debut film, Junglee. After a whirlwind courtship lasting maybe two weeks, Kumar surprised his colleagues and fans by announcing his decision to marry Banu, who was 23 years younger and the only top leading lady he had consistently refused to work with. The marriage was solemnised on October 11.
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