Saira Banu

Saira Banu

Date of Birth:
23 August 1944


Height:
5' 6" (1.68 m)


Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu’s wedding was a surprise for most celebrity watchers because of the vast age difference between the two. But the marriage has been a happy and fulfilling one in spite of the fact that the couple does not have children.



Early life:
Banu was born in India to actress Naseem Banu of 30s-40s, and the granddaughter of a courtesan Chamiyan Bai, also known as Shamshad Begum of Delhi (not to be confused with the famous playback singer of yesteryear Shamshad Begum who was from Amritsar, Punjab). Her father was film Producer Mian Ehsan-ul-Haq, who produced the film Phool in Bombay and film Wadah in Pakistan. She had spent a significant part of her childhood in London, and went to a finishing school. She was an actress at her school, winning many awards and bringing laurels to her parents.



Career:
Banu made her acting debut at 17 years opposite Shammi Kapoor in the 1961 film Junglee for which she earned her first Filmfare nomination as Best Actress. The famous song from this movie "Yaahoo!! Chahe Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahe" sung by Mohammed Rafi was a big success. "Junglee" was written by Aghajani Kashmeri (aka Kashmiri and Agha Jani), who also coached her in Urdu dialogue delivery, given his background in Urdu literature and poetry from Lucknow. Junglee also instantly made her a successful actress throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. But it is said that the turning point of her career was the comedy and love story Padosan, which brought her to be one of the successful actresses.
Her valiant attempts to establish a reputation as an actress after Gopi, Sagina and Bairaag (all with Dilip Kumar) and films like Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Chaitali met with limited success. She did earn three additional Filmfare nominations as Best Actress for Shagird (1967), Diwana (1968), and Sagina (1974). In 1976, Saira chose to end her film career. Subsequently she weathered a storm in her marriage in 1980 which was quickly resolved. She then appeared in a cameo opposite her husband in Duniya (1984) and her last film Faisla released in 1988 which was completed in mid-70s.

Trivia:

In 1966, 22-year old Saira Bano married 44-year old superstar Dilip Kumar. Their marriage is still intact.

Has one niece, Bollywood actress, Shaheen, who was married to Bollywood actor, Sumit Saigal, circa 1997, with a six year old daughter, Sayesha.