Veteran actress Saira Banu actively shares fascinating anecdotes from retro Bollywood on Instagram. Today, marking the birth anniversary of the legendary actor Pran, she fondly reminisced about his cherished bond with her late husband, the iconic actor Dilip Kumar.
Saira Banu recalls the bond of Pran & Dilip Kumar
Sharing a few memorable onscreen and offscreen moments of both Pran and Dilip Kumar, the actress penned a long and heartfelt note about their special bond. In the first part of the note, Saira ji sent birthday wishes to Pran and talked about how Dilip Sahab spoke highly about him. “Happy Birthday Pran Sahab! Pran Sahab and Sahib remained close until the very end. Dilip Sahib always spoke very highly of Pran Sahab and to which he stated that “RAM AUR SHYAM WAS COMPLETED AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. Its work was a jolly experience for all of us. I was working with my friend Pran in Ram Aur Shyam and Aadmi at the same time. Pran and I were friends in the real sense of the term. We met at the work place and we met informally as often as we could either at his house or mine since we lived in the same locality: Bandra.” she wrote.
Saira Banu reminscis Pran & Dilip Kumar’s moments on the sets of Ram Aur Shyam
Recalling Dilip Sahab’s memories with Pran from the sets of Ram Aur Shyam, Saira Banu further added in his words, “At work, we were invariably pitted against each other – our characters were always caught in a conflict over something or the other. It used to be very amusing for onlookers to watch the change that would come over him when he faced the camera with me in the frame after all the friendliness and affection they had seen a while ago between us.
Once again he and I (in Ram Aur Shyam) were pitted against each other.
The highlight and most appreciated scenes in RAM AUR SHYAM were the merciless whipping of helpless RAM by his villainous brother In law in Gajendra in the early part of the film and later when SHYAM assumes the persona of RAM and returns the ordeal of the whipping multifold, the audience just loved it and lapped it up…👏👏👏”
Saira Banu talks about Dilip Kumar & Pran’s memories on the sets of Bimal Roy’s Madhumati
Saira ji also talked about some fond memories of Dilip Kumar and Pran on the sets of Bimal Roy’s Madhumati in the forest location where almost everybody else spoke in Bengali while both Pran Sahab and Dilip Sahab conversed heartily in Punjabi. “He loved the evenings we spent sitting around a bonfire reciting exquisite poetry. We had some wonderful times in Madras when we were shooting for Ram Aur Shyam and Aadmi. We had just completed Dil Diya Dard Liya and the joke on the sets in Madras was “Pran aap ka peecha hi nahin chodta”. It was fine with me and fine with him because we liked each other’s company and respected each other as artists.”
Now that’s so wholesome. Don’t you think?
Pran & Dilip Kumar’s demise
Pran left the mortal world in 2013 at the age of 93 following health issues. Dilip Kumar passed away in 2021 at the age of 98. He was suffering from several age-related health issues and was diagnosed with pleural effusion
