It
is
one
of
the
most
enduring
marriages
in
Bollywood
but
Dilip
Kumar
reveals
that
though
aware
of
her
'crush'
on
him,
he
annoyed
Saira
Banu
by
refusing
to
work
with
her
in
films
as
he
thought
she
was
too
young
to
pair
with
him
on
screen.
The
actress,
who
fell
in
love
with
Kumar
after
watching
his
1952
film
Aan,
finally
married
the
man
of
her
dreams
in
1966
when
he
was
in
his
early
40s
while
she
was
22.
In
his
autobiography
'Dilip
Kumar:
The
Substance
And
The
Shadow',
narrated
by
Udayatara
Nayar,
the
screen
icon,
born
in
Peshawar
(Pakistan)
on
11
December
1922
and
whose
real
name
is
Muhammed
Yousuf
Khan,
reveals
details
about
his
courtship
with
Saira.
"Ram
Aur
Shyam
was
very
special
for
me
in
a
personal
way
because
I
married
Saira
when
the
production
of
the
film
was
nearing
completion.
Until
then
I
was
reluctant
to
even
work
with
her
for
some
reasons," Kumar
says
in
the
book.
Saira,
on
her
part,
had
already
found
a
teacher
to
learn
Urdu
and
Persian
to
impress
Kumar.
She
had
also
got
to
know
about
his
likes
and
dislikes.
The
actor
was
"pleasantly
amused
and
delighted"
but
never
gave
any
importance
to
"this
crush
directed
at
me".
As
a
family
well-wisher,
he
also
advised
Saira's
mother
to
not
let
her
work
in
films.
She
made
her
debut
with
1961
hit
Junglee
opposite
Shammi
Kapoor.
Saira
had
already
worked
with
Kumar's
contemporaries
Raj
Kapoor
and
Dev
Anand
but
working
with
the
actor
was
still
a
distant
dream.
In
fact,
director
Nag
Reddy
wanted
to
cast
Saira
in
Ram
Aur
Shyam
but
Kumar
stopped
him
from
doing
that.
The
role
finally
went
to
Mumtaz,
who
he
thought
was
more
suitable
for
the
part,
making
Saira
very
angry.
Kumar
vividly
recalls
the
day
he
fell
in
love
with
Saira
during
a
party
thrown
to
celebrate
her
birthday
and
the
house
warming
of
their
new
banglow.
"When
I
alighted
from
my
car
and
entered
the
beautiful
garden
that
leads
to
the
house,
I
can
still
recall
my
eyes
falling
on
Saira
standing
in
the
foyer
of
her
new
house
looking
breathtakingly
beautiful
in
a
brocade
sari.
I
was
taken
aback,
because
she
was
no
longer
the
young
girl
I
consciously
avoided
working
with
because
I
thought
she
would
look
too
young
to
be
my
heroine.
"She
had
indeed
grown
to
full
womanhood
and
was
in
reality
more
beautiful
than
I
thought
she
was.
I
simply
stepped
forward
and
shook
her
hand
and
for
us
time
stood
still.
For
once,
she
let
go
of
her
annoyance
with
me
and
looked
straight
into
my
eyes
and
it
did
not
take
more
than
an
instant
for
me
to
realize
that
she
was
the
one
destiny
had
been
knowingly
reserving
as
my
real-life
partner
while
I
was
refusing
to
pair
with
her
on
screen!,"
Kumar
recalls.