Saira Banu

Saira Banu
Saira Banu in 2011
Born	Sayra Banu (1944-08-23) 23 August 1944 (age 72) Mussoorie, United Provinces, British India
Other names	Saira Bano
Occupation	Actress/theatre
Years active	1961–1986
Spouse(s)	Dilip Kumar (1966–present)
Relatives	Nasir Khan (Brother-in-law)

Saira Banu (born 23 August 1944), also known as Saira Bano, is an Indian Hindi film actress and the wife of the film actor Dilip Kumar. She acted in many Bollywood films between 1961 and 1988.

Saira Banu was born in India to actress Naseem Banu and film producer Mian Ehsan-ul-Haq, who produced the film Phool in Mumbai and film Wadah in Pakistan. Her grandmother was the courtesan Chamiyan Bai, also known as Shamshad Begum of Delhi (not to be confused with the famous playback singer of yesteryear Shamshad Begum who was from Amritsar, Punjab). Her niece is former actress Shaheen Banu who is the daughter of her brother Sultan. Saira spent a significant part of her childhood in London, and went to finishing school. Her grandmother was from Hasanpur (Uttar Pradesh). Her paternal grandfather, Muhammad Suleman, was an architect who served as the Chief Engineer of New Delhi and was later involved in the construction of Jinnah's Mazar in Karachi. Her paternal grandmother, Khatoon Begum, was from Old Delhi's Mohalla Churiwalan and a daughter of the scholar Khan Bahadur Maulvi Abdul Ahad (1849-1920). Her paternal grand-aunt, Khadeeja Begum, was married to the Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid in Delhi, Ahmed Bukhari.

Saira Banu was 16 years old in 1960, the year she made her debut to Hindi films. She said in a programme, that she had basic talent and little dancing experience. Her peers all were classically trained, which was why she wasn't put in the top league. Saira started taking Kathak and Bharata Natyam lessons with success and trained herself professionally. Soon she became a dancer and her films flaunted more of her dance. Banu made her acting debut opposite Shammi Kapoor in the 1961 film Junglee for which she earned her first Filmfare nomination as Best Actress. The famous song from this movie "Yaahoo!! Chahe Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahe" sung by Mohammed Rafi was a big success. 'Junglee' was written by Aghajani Kashmeri (aka Kashmiri and Agha Jani), who also coached her in Urdu dialogue delivery, given his background in Urdu literature and poetry from Lucknow. 'Junglee' also instantly made her a successful actress throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Her image was that of a romantic heroine for love stories in the 1960s till 1967. She did one more film opposite Shammi Kapoor named Bluff Master directed by Manmohan Desai. Some of her successful romantic films include 'Jhuk Gaya Aasman' and 'Aayi Milan Ki Bela' with Rajendra Kumar and 'April Fool' with Biswajeet and 5 films with actor Joy Mukherjee - 'Aao Pyar Karen', 'Saaz Aur Awaaz', 'Door Ki Awaz', 'Yeh Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hai' and 'Shagird'. She did double role in the film 'Yeh Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hai'. After her mairrage in 1966, her first film to release was Aman opposite Rajendra Kumar and she continued to act as the lead heroine till 1977. But it is said that the turning point of her career was the comedy and love story Padosan in 1968 opposite Sunil Dutt, which brought her to the top league of the successful actresses and she started receiving more offers.