Saira Banu recalls her birthday celebrations with Dilip Kumar: ‘We would all feast together, play dumb charades and antakshari’

Veteran Bollywood star Saira Banu turns a year older on Tuesday but the actor doesn’t feel the same happiness on her birthday that she used to feel when her late husband and actor Dilip Kumar was alive. Saira Banu was born on August 23, 1944. At the age of 22, she got married to Dilip Kumar on October 11, 1966.
Talking to News18, the Junglee actor reminisced the good old days when her late husband and legendary actor Kumar made sure she felt special on her birthday. She shared that the veteran actor used to handpick flowers for the bouquet to gift it to her and “filled the house with flowers”.

“He would make me wonderfully happy in every way,” recalled Saira while adding that Kumar also made sure to buy clothes for her from her favourite shop with the help of their niece. Not just this, but the thespian also organised a feast for his wife and invited friends and family to make the day even more special in his early days.
Saira Banu’s love story with Dilip Kumar was nothing less than a fairytale. (Photo: Twitter/dilipkumar)
“Dilip saab would ensure some of the finest dishes were cooked on my birthday. It would be like a feast as he would invite the family members and there would also be friends and colleagues from the film industry. The menu would have biryani, korma, pulao, kebabs and some amazing desserts. The party would go on till the wee hours and we would all come together and play dumbs charades and antakshari,” Saira Banu shared.

Now, after Dilip Kumar’s death, the actress is in no mood to celebrate her birthday. But, her nephew Raihan plans to take her out for dinner on her birthday.
Dilip Kumar passed away in July last year after suffering from advanced prostate cancer that had spread to other organs of his body. He was 98.