RIP Dilip Kumar: The Legendary Actor's Eternal Love Story & 54 Years Of Marriage With Saira Banu
Legendary Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar passed away on Wednesday morning after a prolonged illness. The late actor was 98. Known as Bollywood's first Superstar, Dilip Kumar had not only given the Indian cinema some of its most treasured releases but has also gave couple goals to the new generation with his eternal love for Saira Banu.
In 1966, Kumar married actress Saira Banu, who was 22 years younger than him. The actress reportedly confessed her love for the late actor in a tabloid interview. Saira revealed that she was in love with Dilip Kumar from the age of 12. "I was not just another girl smitten by Dilip Kumar. For me, it was no castle in the air because I had given my dream the strong foundation of faith- faith in myself and faith in God," she had said.
Remembering the first time she had met him, she said in another interview, "When he smiled at me and remarked that I was a pretty girl, I could feel my whole being taking wing and flying rapturously. I knew somewhere deep within me that I was going to be his wife."
However, she got her first glimpse of the actor in 1960 with the release of Mughal-E-Azam as a fan as she watched him on screen for the first time at the age of 16. Reportedly it was Saira Banu's mother Naseem Banu who played the cupid and introduced the two.
The two slowly got closer and he proposed while she was shooting for Jhuk Gaya Aasman. Reports revealed that he had said, "Saira, you are not the kind of girl I want to drive around with, or be seen around with... I would like to marry you... Will you be my wife?" Promptly came the response from Saira, "And how many girls have you said this to?" She, however, had answered with a yes and tied the knot in 1966.
Asha
Parekh
Recalls
Her
Fangirl
Moment
With
Dilip
Kumar;
'I
Was
Dumbstruck
When
He
Was
Around'
The couple also overcame the criticism of having 22 years of age gap during their marriage and always had each other's back. But in 1981 Kumar married Hyderabad socialite Asma Sahiba, which the late actor had recalled it as the only regret in life. The two separated in 1983.
Kumar had opened up about the marriage and said in an interview, "Well, the one episode in my life that I would like to forget and which we, Saira, and I, have pushed into eternal oblivion is a grave mistake I made under pressure of getting involved with a lady named Asma Rehman whom I had met at a cricket match in Hyderabad."
Saira Banu dedicated herself completely to married life. She had also referred to Kumar as 'Kohinoor' and said that she thanks Allah every day for him, In 2014, Saira said, "I am still head over heels in love with my Kohinoor, Yousuf Sahab, the way I was when I first felt attracted to him as a 12-year-old."
Remembering
Dilip
Kumar:
From
Mughal-e-Azam,
Naya
Daur
To
Devdas
How
The
Romance
Icon
Turned
Tragedy
King"Ours has been as good and enduring a marriage as so many marriages that have survived the ups and downs for four decades. No marriage is perfect. How can it be, when as human beings we are not perfect? It is mutual love, respect and adoration that keep a marriage ticking," she had added.
The couple was one of the most talked-about romances in Bollywood. Despite early criticism, they proved everyone wrong with their fairytale romance and Saira Banu stayed by Kumar's bedside till he breathed his last on July 7, 2021.