Saira Banu meets Hema Malini, recalls Dharmendra and Dilip Kumar's bond. See post

Veteran actor Saira Banu has shared a heartfelt note on Instagram after meeting Hema Malini, saying the visit brought back memories of their first meeting in 1966 on the sets of Deewana with Raj Kapoor. Posting a picture from their meeting, Saira wrote that seeing Hema again took her back to the moment she was first struck by her grace and beauty.

In her post, Saira also revisited their time together at the Krishna Raj Sagar Dam, where they stayed in neighbouring rooms and spent long hours talking in the verandah with their mothers. Saira wrote that some friendships don’t require effort to sustain, as they naturally endure with time and understanding.

What Saira Banu wrote

“It does not feel so long ago that Hema had come to see me at my home, accompanied by her cousin Prabha and yet, when I heard that she’s coming againmy heart was happy. When she entered, she looked just as graceful, and in that instant, I was taken back to the very first time I met her in 1966, on the sets of Deewana with Raj Kapoor. Even then, I remember, I was quite simply mesmerised by her beauty, there is no other word that feels as true (sic),” Saira wrote.

Reflecting on their bond, Saira fondly revisited the time she spent with Hema at the Krishna Raj Sagar Dam, saying their friendship grew through long conversations and has remained the same over the years.

“After that, we met a few times again, and I find my thoughts returning most fondly to our days at the Krishna Raj Sagar Dam. Our rooms were next to each other, which meant our days, quite naturally, became shared. We would sit for hours in the verandah, speaking of everything that came to mind, beauty, skin care, little routines, matters that felt so important then, and perhaps were, in their own gentle way. Our mothers were with us too, and would often join, adding something wiser, something steadier, to our easy, unguarded conversations (sic),” she added.

Her note concluded by saying that what moved her most was how little had changed between them over the years.

“And yet, what moves me most is not merely the memory of those moments, but how little, in essence, has changed. Some friendships do not ask to be maintained, they simply endure. With her, there is no effort, no need to explain or revisit. There is only understanding, a familiarity that time, in all its passing, has not diminished (sic),” her note concluded.

Saira Banu’s career and personal life

Saira Banu was one of Hindi cinema’s prominent leading ladies in the 1960s. She married superstar Dilip Kumar on October 11, 1966, and the couple remained devoted to each other until Dilip Kumar’s death in 2021 at the age of 98. Saira stepped away from the limelight after her marriage, but briefly returned to the screen in the 1970s.