The eternal love story of Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu came to an end on July 7 when the ‘Aan’ actor died at Mumbai’s PD Hinduja Hospital. As much as the film fraternity suffered from this loss, his wife Saira Banu seems to be the one who has been affected the most. 

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It is quite normal that Saira Banu would feel this way. The couple had spent 55 blissful years together and their love is deemed eternal to this date. Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu’s love story is not something one would get to see every day, in fact, one can only see it happening in films. 

It was love-at-first-sight for Saira Banu at the age of 12, when she saw Dilip Kumar’s film ‘Aan’. The actor was 34 at the time but Saira could not help her emotions. This did not turn out to be another infatuation, because Saira Banu went out of her way to get noticed by an actor who was much older than her. She later became a successful actor herself, and people were smitten by her grace and beauty. 

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It did not take Dilip Kumar long to notice her beauty, and despite having denied working with Saira due to their tremendous age gap, the actor fell for her.

He wrote in his autobiography, “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.”

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They both married in 1966 when Saira Banu was just 22 and Dilip Kumar was 44. Their love story defies age and is an example of how age is not a bar when two people fall in love. What followed was years of a successful marriage, and overcoming obstacles. Saira Banu continued with her career till 1976, after which she retired to become a homemaker. 

However, most celebrities do face controversies in their love life, and Dilip-Saira’s was not any different. According to many reports, the actor got involved with a Pakistani lady but came back to his wife two years later. But this did little harm to the relationship, as they both stood by each other till Dilip Kumar’s death.

The actor’s social media handles often highlighted his love for his wife. It also had messages coming from Saira Banu, which Dilip shared from his profile.

While the Hindi film industry has seen the fall of a star, Saira Banu’s loss is not comparable to any of it.