Saira Banu shared unseen pictures from her engagement ceremony with Dilip Kumar and revealed that he never asked her any questions under any circumstances.
Veteran actress Saira Banu recalled an extremely emotional occasion by sharing unseen pictures from her engagement ceremony with her late husband, veteran actor Dilip Kumar, on October 2. On the couple’s 58th engagement anniversary, Saira expressed her undying love for the late icon through a touching and emotional note on social media, and paid tribute to their enduring bond.
The actor posted throwback pictures along with a touching message, reflecting on his journey that began on this day in 1966. Saira recalled the love and trust that defined her relationship with Dilip Kumar and how she never questioned the ups and downs or quiet moments during their time together.
She wrote, “Mohabbat mein sawal nahi kiye jaatein (I have never questioned anything in love)”, I said this line in the film ‘Hera Pheri’ and now I wonder what it means. The purest form of love is to trust your lover so much that you lose the need to question. Ever since I started my journey with my true love, my beloved, Dilip sahab on this unforgettable day 2nd October 1966, I have never questioned anything. Be it the ups and downs or the quiet moments in between, I have never doubted or questioned him.”
He further added, “I just loved. Because love is the foundation on which everything else stands. It frees you of any burden, doubts or expectations, and leaves behind only one thing: devotion. And in that devotion, one finds the true essence of love, love that is unconditional, liberating and enduring. #EngagementDay.”
Saira Bano and Dilip Kumar were married on 11 October 1966, when Saira Bano was 22 and Dilip Kumar was 44. Their marriage lasted for five decades until Dilip passed away on 7 July 2021. Dilip fell in love with Saira at her 22nd birthday party. In his memoir, Dilip Kumar: The Substance and the Shadow, he recalled the moment he first saw her in a brocade sari and instantly fell in love with her.
He wrote, “When I got out of my car and entered the beautiful garden leading to the house, I still remember my eyes falling on Saira who was standing in the veranda of her new house and looking extremely beautiful in a brocade sari. I was amazed, for she was no longer the young girl with whom I had deliberately avoided working because I thought she would look too young to be my heroine. She had actually fully matured and was in fact more beautiful than I had imagined. I simply walked forward and shook her hand and for us, time stopped.” Shortly after, Dilip proposed to Saira.
Dilip also married Asma Rehman in 1981, this marriage lasted only two years. In his autobiography, he has described his second marriage as a ‘serious mistake’.