Exclusive! Saira Banu: We will have a quiet birthday for Dilip Saheb with our friends and family

KEY STORY

• Legendary actor Dilip Kumar turns 98 today. While his lovely wife Saira Banu plans a special bash for the veteran actor every year, this year she reveals that there will have no big celebrations owing to the pandemic and the personal loss they have suffered by the passing away of Dilip Kumar’s brothers Ahsan and Aslam.

• Talking exclusively to ETimes, Saira Banu said, “I didn’t celebrate Eid, Diwali or any festival this year because of the human losses we have suffered this year due to the fatal flu epidemic. We have also had two tragedies in the family – Saheb’s younger brothers Ahsan and Aslam, who fell prey to COVID-19. We will have a quiet birthday with our friends and family with well-wishers staying at home and praying and wishing us from the safety of their homes.”

• Dilip Kumar’s film production, ‘Ganga Jamuna’ also completed 50 years recently. Sharing memories of the film, the ace actress added, “’Ganga Jamuna’ is very special to both of us. It was Saheb’s pet project and he met with opposition from many who thought the story would not work. He remained resolute and egged on by his belief in himself, his intuition and instinctive judgment of audience response to the offbeat subject. He went ahead and made it.”

• Elaborating further, she added, “Every scene in Ganga Jamuna has been spellbinding for me. I can see the film any number of times and still not be able to pinpoint a scene and say ‘This is the best scene!’ Every scene is perfect.”

• “If you subscribe to the thought that a film’s classic status comes from unforgettable moments in its narrative, then it has to be acknowledged that every moment in the film is cherished by not only me, his most ardent fan, but such serious actors as Kamal Haasan and Amitabh Bachchan”, she concluded.