Saira Banu

Saira Banu Biography

Saira Banu was one among the high ranked actresses of 60’s and early 70’s. She is known for her cute smile and childish acts. She is the wife of great veteran actor Dilip Kumar, whose age was double that her when they got married. Yet they are one among the successful real life couples of Bollywood till now.

She entered Bollywood through the super hit movie ‘Junglee’ of 1961, opposite Shammi Kapoor. This hit movie is most remembered for the naughty looks of this great actress and teasing song, yahoo sung by Mohd.Rafi. She was 19 that time. From there on, she acted in numerous movies that were successful, both commercially and musical. Some among the musical movies include Shagird opposite Joy Mukherjee, Padosan opposite Guru Dutt, Juk Gaya asman opposite Rajender Kumar, April fool opposite Biswajeet, Purab aur paschim opposite Manoj Kumar, Zameer opposite Amitabh Bachchan and Bairag opposite Dileep Kumar.

Along with Dileep kumar, she acted Bairag, Gopi and Sagina. She debut Bollywood through Junglee where she played opposite Shammi Kapoor. But in Zameer, Shammi Kapoor acted as her father. Milestone movie of her career was superhit comedy Padosan. Padosan was the movie that fully belonged to talented actors – Mehmood, Guru Dutt, Kishore Kumar and of course, Saira Banu. The movie is still remembered for hit songs like Kehna hai, Mere samne wali khidki and Ek Chathur naar.   

When Saira married Dileep Kumar in 1966, she was only 22 and Dileep Kumar was 44. It was her dream to marry the top hero Dileep Kumar when she entered the acting field. She was nominated in film fare for best actress three times for herwonderful performance in Shagird, Diwana and Sagina. But she couldn’t win it at least once.

There are a dozen of songs beautifully pictured on this actress. Mein chali and Ek chathur naar from Padosan, Bai bathoor from Juk gaya aasman, title song and  Unki pehli nazar kya from April fool, Rukh jaa ee hawa and Who hai zara from Shagird, Jaa jaa jaa mere bachpan from Junglee and many more. After her marriage in 1966, she continued to work in movies till 1976. Her last movie was a late release in 1988 – Faisla.

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Updated: July 01, 2018