SAIRA BANU, WOH AKELI RAHEGAYI, LEKIN WOH UNKE SAATH HAI

All my life I have been trying to know people and especially stars behind the masks they wear on their handsome and beautiful faces - Ali Peter John

I have found most dangerous faces behind the faces of some of the men who have been known as extraordinary men and brave knights in armour .

And I have seen some of the most wicked and cuning and even cruel faces behind the masks worn by women with the most beautiful smiles , eyes and their brave attempts made to paint their faces with all kinds of artificial colours to hide their true faces .

And my efforts to know the many faces of the brave , the bold and the beautiful still continues .

I may or may not be able to tell the truth and nothing but the truth about the many faces , but I will always carry their different faces with me as long as I live ....

This is a small attempt to paint a picture that is very different from the face of one of the most beautiful and successful actress of our time and her name is Saira Banu,an actress who has made a place of her own during the last sixty years , but is also known as the "begum "of the Shahenshah , Dilip Kumar...

I have been very lucky in most of the things I have done or things that have been done to me or have happened to me .

And one of the best things to happen in my life is my being able to be a close witness to life at 34 Pali Hill where Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu have been living since October 1960 when they got married and created a sensation .

I have seen Saira Banu in the most glorious times at 34 Pali Hill and have seen her as the begum as the perfect hostess ....

But , if there is one quality about the woman who like all those (who have come close to her call Sairaji) is her face of a woman who has stood like a beautiful rock whenever sickness has tried to wreck the happiness and peace of her family .

I have often callled her the Florence of Nightingale and I now have one more reason to decorate her with the same honour .

She ,I was told did not have very cordial relations with her Shahenshah's brothers and some even said that she had tried to keep her Shahenshah's brothers away from their brother and made the Shahenshah even meet his brothers without letting her know .

One of the Shahenshah's brothers , Aslam Khan spent most of his life in London and the youngest brother Ehsan Khan who had not made it really big (except for producing the classic film "Ganga Jamuna" in the sixties) lived in the Shahenshah's own bungalow close to 34 Pali Hill.

Their other brother , Nasir Khan who had played Dilip Kumar's younger brother in "Ganga Jamuna" had died a long time ago.

It was therefore heart -warming to know that it was Sairaji who got both Aslam and Ehsan who were both in their late eighties admitted to the Leelavati Hospital in Bandra after they tasted positive for Covid -19.

Sairaji is said to have taken personal care of both her brothers -in -law . Aslam Khan however died early last week and at the time of my writing , Ehsan is said to be fighting a very grave battle between life and death .....

It is this incident that brings to my mind the other times when Sairaji has proved to be the ideal nurse ....

I knew about how she took personal care of her grand mother, Shamshad Begum who was a classical singer once (this Shamshad Begum was often mistaken for another Shamshad Begum who ruled as a playback singer for quite some time).

I used to see both Sairaji and the great Dilip Kumar going to her room to inquire about her health and how Dilip Kumar even sang for her .

She died when she was in her nineties and I saw how Dilip Kumar and Sairaji looked after the funeral arrangements made at the Juhu Kabristaan .

Sairaji's mother the beauty queen of the fifties , Naseem Banu was the driving spirit of the house and it was her word that prevailed till she finally fell sick .

And once again , it was Sairaji the daughter and the nurse at her best , looking after her every need .

Sairaji's sister- in-law Raahat soon fell a victim to a terminal diseases like cancer and Sairaji was there by her side like the nurse she was during any crisis . And soon after Raahat, her husband Sultan , the only brother of Sairaji also died.

And stories about how Sairaji has been taking care of her Shahenshah for almost the last ten years is now a real story that can never be forgotten .

And Sairaji has not only proved what mettle she is made of by playing the nurse in real life , but she has also been the brain and heart behind the running of a charitable trust which helps the poor, the sick and the needy .....

They say if you do good to others , good will happen to you and even god will be good to you .

I hope and pray that all that is said about being and doing good comes true for Sairaji , the first ever star whose car I had run after more than sixty years ago