Saira Banu

When I stopped my work in films and took over the management of the house, sometime after marriage, my new avatar was replicated hilariously by Dilip Sahab a few times having me and my mother in splits.

Even the gods pardon someone who makes a mistake.

We don't want any starry trappings that would make us obsessed with ourself and our image.

Our needs are minimal.

I could have easily carved out a niche, but I realised that Saira Banu the actress can be replaced, but nobody can substitute my duty towards my family.

I had a rosy picture of marriage till I was exposed to the huge responsibility of being Dilip Kumar's wife.

If a woman's husband is India's Kohinoor, why won't his wife be a Sati Savitri.

Looking after Saab, his life and home now comes naturally to me.

Saab never asked me to give up my career. In fact, he encouraged me to continue acting after marriage. But, after a while, my heart was not in my career. I just wanted to take care of Saab.

Our marriage is the most important thing in my life.

I don't miss having a child because Saab is like a child at heart.

Producer Ram Mukherjee was making 'Hum Hindustani' and he wanted to cast me opposite Sunil Dutt. But it was decided that I would look diminutive before him and the character too was such that she portrays herself to be opposite of what she is.

Never ever I went to any producer/director for films and I never accepted small role in any film following 'Junglee.'

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.

I started my life as an admiring fan, and fortunate am I to marry him and see the different aspects and qualities of this great human being who was not like any of the people I had met and spoken to.

No marriage is perfect. How can it be, when as human beings we are not perfect?

Ours has been as good and enduring a marriage as so many marriages that have survived the ups and downs for four decades.

I am still head over heels in love with my Kohinoor, Yousuf Sahab, the way I was when I first felt attracted to him as a 12 year-old.

I will always remember Shammi Kapoor as a bottle of champagne. He was bubbly and full of energy - on the sets, at a party or anywhere you met him, at any hour.

As colleagues, Shammi ji was my first co-actor and the hero of my debut film 'Junglee' in 1961. I met him for the first time at Kashmir's Shalimar Bagh where we were filming the song 'Kashmir ki kali hoon main.' I was an excited teenager, fresh out of London College, and had pursued films against my mother's wishes.

No one has ever seen Shammi ji frowning.

I remember Shammi Kapoor for his great sense of music. If he loved a song, he would go to any speaks of his obsession as an actor. He wanted everything according to his film's mood. His demise is a serious loss to the film industry. Personally, I have lost a friend, a protective elder brother, and someone who was full of love and warmth.

I have always said that if we had a son, he might have looked like Shah Rukh.

Well, Dilip saab was a family friend; he knew my parents. So we were always invited when there was a function at his place - and vice versa.

I did my first film Junglee and it became a hit. That film was the first one to bring the real colour on the big screen, which was Eastmancolor.