Mumbai, July 24 Veteran actress Saira Banu, who is known for sharing anecdotes from her life and about her late husband, the cinema icon Dilip Kumar, penned a heartwarming note for Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner and Padma Shri Manoj Kumar.
On Wednesday, the actress took to her Instagram and shared a bunch of throwback monochromatic pictures featuring herself, Dilip Kumar and Manoj Kumar.
The actress penned a long note in the caption and recollected how her husband and Manoj would often bond over kites and different kinds of omelettes.
She wrote: “Soon after my first film, I received so many offers amongst which was ‘Shaadi’. Here for the first time, I played opposite Manoj ji. I was a very shy youngster and I had this peculiar habit of really being awkward on the sets while doing romantic numbers. Manoj ji is very understanding he would quietly just move away from the set while my solo shots were being filmed. We were both people of very few words but worked comfortably together.”
She shared that her husband was Manoj’s idol: “They were close and would always venture to make different types of omelettes, fly kites, and indulge in ‘Sher-O-Shayari’.”
She then shared a “big joke” about Dilip and Manoj starring together in ‘Aadmi’. During the making of the film, Manoj started to assume the gestures associated with Dilip Kumar. After which Dilip Kumar laughingly told Manoj: “Yaar tu meri tarah shots kar le, main kuch aur tareeka nikaltaa hoon (you take the shots the way I do, I’ll think of something else).”
Saira then walked down memory lane and explained how she became a part of ‘Purab Aur Paschim’ despite her and Dilip Kumar’s decision about her not working in films after their marriage.
She continued: “Sahib and I had decided that I would not be continuing with my film career after our Shaadi but behold! I had signed ‘Purab Aur Paschim’ before marriage, wherein I played a Westernised young girl against Manoj ji. Manoj ji declared that he would shelve his project if Sahib did not allow me to work on it. Later on, in the film I was unwell and Sahib told Manoj ji that we will never misunderstand if he replaces me, but Manoj ji committed that he would rather shelve the film than replace me. I will always respect him for this magnanimous gesture.”
The actress also shared that Manoj’s wife Shashi once told her if a bumble bee came into the bedroom, Manoj would go under the bed sheet and ask her to drive out the insect.
She shared another story from the sets of ‘Balidaan’ when Manoj and she were shooting in China Creek.
She shared: “Both of us were running away from the Daaku who was approaching us on a horseback and we were running away barefoot in the flowing water handcuffed to each other.”
“As the camera came on, the Bandit was whipping away in the air in pursuit of us and Manoj ji was supposed to grab the whip and stand in front of me to protect me like He Man, instead of this when the shot started Manoj ji quickly ran behind me instead of protecting me. What a laugh! In the later, years Manoj ji remained close to our family,” she concluded.
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