From omelettes and bhajias to kites and recipes: Saira Banu recalls the Dilip-Manoj Kumar friendship

Manoj Kumar and Dilip Kumar’s friendship went beyond work and right into the kitchen with the two cooking omelettes and exchanging recipes as they discussed films and scripts, Saira Banu said on Friday.

Mourning the death of the man known to his fans as ‘Bharat Kumar’, Saira said she and husband Dilip Kumar counted Manoj Kumar and his wife Shashi as family.

“Manoj ji always addressed Dilip saab as Raja saab… this name was taken from the 1968 film Aadmi, in which they worked together. They were very close. He had great admiration for saab, he was like a family member to us. His wife, Shashi, was also very close to us. No appointments were needed between us at all. This was a couple that just walked in and became family to us,” Saira told PTI.

“Imagine Dilip Saab and Manoj Saab and a retinue of people… the two would cook omelettes. They even had special recipes. They would exchange recipes, eat together and talk about films and scripts," the veteran actor recalled.

The two friends also loved flying kites.  “They would fly kites together in those days and eat bhajiyas in between… They spent wonderful times together. Today, we don’t see that kind of love, admiration and camaraderie among actors. It’s just on social media, no feeling at all,” she added.

She also recalled how Manoj frequently visited their home for work-related discussions.

“He had come home to convince Dilip saab to do Kranti because saab had taken a break from films for a couple of years." Saira added that she had been in touch with the family after hearing of Manoj’s ill health.  “We’ve have been in touch with Shashi. I got to know that he was unwell and admitted to Kokilaben Hospital. We’ve always prayed for him. May he rest in peace… It is a terrible, terrible morning.”

Saira and Manoj first worked together in Shaadi in 1962. “I played a young married woman in the movie, and while filming a romantic song, I would feel shy while lip syncing. I remember telling him, ‘Please, don’t mind, I feel awkward singing this, and if you can step a bit away’. He turned around and said to everyone ‘Let her shoot in peace’.”

Manoj wanted to cast her for his debut directorial venture Upkar, but she had to decline the offer due to other commitments. “At that time I was launching my own production company with my brother. So, I excused myself saying, ‘I won’t be able to do the movie and that I’ll work with you in the future.’ And the future was not too far away. He offered me Purab Aur Paschim, which he had specially written for me." She was married by then and wasn’t sure if she would have the time. “I got married and it was sort of silently understood that probably I would not get time to work in the movie, though Dilip saab never stopped me’. I decided I had to marry then because Dilip saab was not going to wait around,” she recounted.

Manoj, however, was determined to cast only her in the role of a woman who has grown up with western influences but decides to adopt Indian traditions. He met Dilip to convince her. “Manoj told saab, ‘Please let her do Purab Aur Paschim because I’ve written this subject for her. And if you say no, I’ll never go ahead with it. Dilip saab laughed and said, ‘I’ve never denied Saira to work, I’ll never say no to this’. So, that’s how Purab Aur Paschim came about. It was a very special movie, and I received a lot of appreciation for it,” Saira added.

In his autobiography, “The Substance and the Shadow", Dilip narrates the story in detail, of how Saira fell sick before the film and Manoj decided to wait. “She rested for about a month and then resumed shooting for the movie in London. Here, I must say that Manoj’s stand as the producer-director of the film was admirable. “He assured me he would wait for Saira to recover fully and only then shoot for Purab Aur Paschim as he had written the script with Saira in mind. If she did not do it, he would shelve the project, he told me."

Dilip also writes of Manoj’s generosity at the time, convincing him to come out of his self-imposed break from movies. “Years later, when Manoj wanted me to consider doing Kranti, I must admit this one memorable deed on his part made me take up the project without my customary reading of the complete script. I agreed to work in the film after listening to the subject in a nutshell because I wanted to pay back a debt," he recalls in the book.

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