Did you know that Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu were supposed to do the Hindi version of Saptapadi?
Did you know that Saira Banu was upset with Manoj Kumar for cutting Saab’s roles in Kranti?
And let’s give you some news - the Dilip-Saira magic could be back on screen once again through one of the many scripts that Dilip Kumar himself has written.
Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu were in a nostalgic mood when we caught up with them in their hotel suite. Sairaji was there to greet us. "Saab is sleeping." And after offering us coffee and pastries, she recalled her experience in Kolkata in the ’60s when she had come to shoot for Jhook Gaya Aasman.
"We (Dilip and she) had just got engaged and there was pure chaos. People even got into the aircraft and we had to be whisked off. In fact, fans lifted our car," she said. "There were people knocking at our hotel door and eventually the shooting was cancelled. My wedding date was preponed at my mother’s insistence," said Saira, who is now producing a Bhojpuri film.
We had spent over an hour with the heroine of films like Junglee, Bairaag,Padosan, Zameer, that’s when we saw the legend stepping out of his bedroom dressed in immaculate white. It was a rare opportunity to see him in flesh and blood. All his landmark roles - Devdas, Sagina Mahato, Prince Salim, DCP Ashwini Kumar - flashed before us. "Jaan yeh log aapke liye wait kar rahen the," Sairaji went up to him. He made himself comfortable on the sofa.
Age had caught up with the actor and he took time to respond to questions. Dilipsaab, how about a trip down memory lane in the city? "It’s painful with many of my friends being no more. But there was too much of noise in the stadium that evening," he said referring to the awards ceremony on Saturday. And as we discussed his films, we found the legend humming a few lines from some of his all-time hits. So, who suited you more, Talat Mahmood or Mohd. Rafi? "Mohd. Rafi of course," came his reply.
So, does he watch today’s films? "No. He is more into news and sports," answered his wife, but both can’t stop praising Rani Mukerji and Karisma Kapoor. "Rani in fact came home and invited him for the premiere of Black, waited for him at the gate and then took him to the theatre," informed Sairaji. "Karisma is very talented and so is Kareena. We liked the younger sister in Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon," they said. Among the actors, Dilipsaab who are your favourites apart from Amitabh Bachchan? "I haven’t seen many Shah Rukh Khan films." We reminded him of the deadly combination - Dilip-Dev-Raj. “Raj was a good friend," and he had a hearty laugh when he was reminded how Raj Kapoor used to imitate Dev Anand and the latter got upset. Dilipsaab felt each of his three favourite directors had distinctive style of filmmaking: "Bimal Roy was soft, Mehboob Khan used to perform the roles for his cast and Nitin Bose taught me the value of silence."
A discussion about Kolkata inevitably led to Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen. Both expressed their eagerness to meet Suchitra Sen. When we told them she had stopped meeting people, they asked for a favour: "Can you convey our best wishes to her?" The King of Tragedy asked us, "What is charchari maach?” We promised to get the delicacy for him next time.
So, does he watch today’s films? "No. He is more into news and sports," answered his wife, but both can’t stop praising Rani Mukerji and Karisma Kapoor. "Rani in fact came home and invited him for the premiere of Black, waited for him at the gate and then took him to the theatre," informed Sairaji. "Karisma is very talented and so is Kareena. We liked the younger sister in Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon," they said. Among the actors, Dilipsaab who are your favourites apart from Amitabh Bachchan? "I haven’t seen many Shah Rukh Khan films." We reminded him of the deadly combination - Dilip-Dev-Raj. “Raj was a good friend," and he had a hearty laugh when he was reminded how Raj Kapoor used to imitate Dev Anand and the latter got upset. Dilipsaab felt each of his three favourite directors had distinctive style of filmmaking: "Bimal Roy was soft, Mehboob Khan used to perform the roles for his cast and Nitin Bose taught me the value of silence."
A discussion about Kolkata inevitably led to Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen. Both expressed their eagerness to meet Suchitra Sen. When we told them she had stopped meeting people, they asked for a favour: "Can you convey our best wishes to her?" The King of Tragedy asked us, "What is charchari maach?” We promised to get the delicacy for him next time.