MUMBAI: Veteran actor Manoj Kumar is celebrating his 87th birthday today and his co-star of many films Saira Banu has penned a long note studded with trivias around him. The actress started by recalling their first project together which was Shaadi (1962). This was Saira’s second film in Bollywood and she described herself as a ‘very shy youngster’ with a habit of getting awkward while doing romantic scenes.
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“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,” Saira Banu said.
In her note ahead, the 79-year-old revealed that Dilip Kumar used to be Manoj Kumar’s idol and they were very close to each other. The Kumar-duo would make different types of Omelets, fly kites, and indulge in Sher-O-Shayari. Saira Banu recalled that during the filming of Aadmi, Manoj Kumar began assuming the gestures associated with Dilip Kumar.
This is when the latter laughingly told Manoj ji, “Yaar Tu Meri Tarah Shots Kar Le, Main Kuch Aur Tarika Nikaltaa Hoon”
In her streak of trivia, Saira Banu further recalled that she and her husband Dilip Sahab had decided that she would put her acting career to rest post-marriage. But the actress had already signed Purab Aur Pachhim before becoming the bride where she was supposed to play the character of a Westernized young girl alongside Manoj Kumar.
Banu recalled, “Manoj ji declared that he would shelve his project if Sahib did not allow me to work on it.” When during the shoot Saira Banu fell sick, Dilip Kumar told Manoj Kumar that it was okay if the actress got replaced to get the show going. But it was Manoj ji who according to Saira was committed that he would rather shelve the film than replace her. “I will always respect him for this magnanimous gesture,” the Diwana actress added.
The Bollywood storyteller further revealed how Kumar’s wife Shashi Goswami was very close to her and was a ‘lively talented woman’. Saira Banu recalled Shashi ji telling her once that even if a bumblebee would come into the bedroom, Manoj Kumar would hide himself under the bed and ask his wife to drive the insect out of the room.
In an extension of this only, Saira Banu recalled a similar incident that she saw with her own eyes during the outdoor shoot of her film Balidaan opposite Manoj Kumar. The duo was shooting in China-Creek and the sequence featured them running away barefoot in the flowing water handcuffed to each other from the Daaku who was approaching on horseback.
Banu detailed, “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 a He-Man, instead of this when the shot started Manoj ji quickly ran behind me instead of protecting me. What a laugh!”
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Saira Banu revealed that in the later years, Manoj Kumar continued to remain close to her family. Manoj Kumar was last seen on the big screen in 1995.
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Credits - Pinkvilla
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