Top 44 Saira Banu Quotes

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

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.

It is out of love and not duress that I look after Dilip saab. I am not looking for praises to be called a devoted wife. Just to touch him and cuddle him is the world’s best thing that’s happening to me. I adore him and he is my breath itself.

It was never my ambition to watch myself in magnified close-ups on screen.

I never minded stories of the beautiful women associated with Dilip saab. I had placed my entire trust in him.

As a producer, I have the luxury of coming and going according to my convenience. As a director I cannot do that. I gave up my acting career at its peak for the same reason.

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.

I consider myself very fortunate.

No marriage can be flawless and 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.

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

It is mutual love, respect and adoration that keep a marriage ticking.

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.

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

While my brother Sultan and I studied in England, my mother Naseem Banu would take us for a holiday to Europe in our vacations which began sometime in July and from there, she would always bring us to India without fail. She was insistent that we never lose track of our Indian values.

The people in Chennai and Mumbai are equally cultured and well-informed.

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

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

In my family, I’ve seen women being devoted to their husbands. I grew up watching that. To me, it is a very natural thing.

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

My mother Naseem Bano who was called the first ‘Pari Chehra’ or beauty queen of the film industry, had taken me to London after she saw me taking fancy to her ghaghra, lipstick and dance to the tunes of her film songs. For her, academics were more important than films.

My husband deserves the top honours for the work he has done and the man that he is.

In the very early years of our marriage I took seriously ill and I had to be hospitalised in London. Leaving everything aside, my Jaan was by my side, staying awake at times while I slept secure in the knowledge that I have strong hands clasping my hand, praying silently for my recovery.

My grandmother Shahmshad Begum was an accomplished classical singer. And I’d often urge her to teach me. She would demand that I sit and practice singing with her, which I never did. But I finally did sing in Mohan Kumar Saab’s ‘Aman.’

Even the gods pardon someone who makes a mistake.

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.

I am not being a martyr when I say that I don’t regret putting my career on the backburner.

I have been singularly blessed to be a granddaughter to one of the most accomplished classical vocalists of her time, daughter to one of the most ravishingly beautiful actresses ever, and wife to the greatest actor. What more can I desire?

I am as attached to my career as a producer as I was to my career as an actress.

My marriage was a dream come true for me.

I am at my best within my family fold. Outside, I am withdrawn, aloof and reserved.

Our marriage is the most important thing in my life.

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.

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.

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.

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

Every touch and hug that I got from my grandmom and mom was therapeutic.

As my grandmother Shamshad Begum was a noted classical singer, who had settled down in London, we used to receive several people from the music, film and literature fraternity at home. People like Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Mehboob Khan, Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, K. Asif etc., used to visit us regularly.

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

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 am grateful for every day that I get with the people I love.

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.

If I have another life at all I will once again beseech Allah to give me the blessing of living this life again.

No one has ever seen Shammi ji frowning.