Bollywood veteran Saira Banu’s wedding with the late Dilip Kumar on October 11, 1966, was ‘dreamlike, unscripted and full of delightful chaos’, the actress recalled on her 59th marriage anniversary on Saturday.
In a long note on Instagram, Banu noted that her wedding was not extravagant. Instead, it was marked by ‘simplicity, hurried excitement and heartfelt emotion’. Though Banu and Kumar were to tie the knot in November, Kumar insisted on an early nikkah. The couple tied the knot in an ‘unscripted’ ceremony, nine days after their engagement on October 2 that year.
Banu hardly had any time for preparation. Her bridal ensemble was stitched by a local tailor and she got married without any printed cards or detailed plans.
“The song Do Sitaron Ka Zameen Par Hai Milan Aaj Ki Raat floated through the air like a blessing that wouldn’t fade. It played all night long, echoing the joy in my heart, and I remember thinking that if someone told me I could truly fly that evening, I would have believed them. That’s how unreal, how dreamlike it all felt,” wrote the 81-year-old actress, alongside pictures from the ceremony.
“Nothing about that day was extravagant, yet it was perfect in its simplicity. My wedding joda was lovingly stitched by our local tailor; there were no grand designers, no detailed plans, no printed cards, just hurried excitement and heartfelt emotion. The Nikaah was meant for November, but destiny had other plans. I can still hear Sahib’s gentle but firm voice over the telephone from Calcutta saying, “Aap ek Maulvi ko bulaiye aur Nikaah karwa dijiye!” And just like that, the most important day of my life unfolded before I could even blink,” she continued.
Reflecting on her wedding day and the crowd of Kumar’s admirers who had gathered outside her house to witness their special day, Banu wrote, “The wedding itself was full of delightful chaos. Sahib and I lived close by, and when his Baraat came down the lane, the Ghodi descended a small slope, the umbrella brushing against his Sehra, a sight so charming that it still makes me smile. In no time, word spread that Dilip Kumar was getting married, and hundreds of admirers found their way into my home. The house was overflowing with laughter, noise, and strangers who felt like family.”
Banu recalled that the sheer number of guests left them short of food. “The crowd was so large that we even ran short of food, people began pocketing tiny souvenirs, a fork here, a spoon there as if they were collecting tokens from a fairytale,” she wrote.
“Oh, what a day that was. Unscripted, imperfect, and yet filled with a kind of joy that words can never truly capture. That night remains etched in my heart a memory that still glows softly, even after all these years,” the actress concluded.
Banu, who made her Bollywood debut opposite Shammi Kapoor in the 1961 film Junglee, starred alongside her husband in films like Gopi (1970), Sagina Mahato (1971) and Jwaar Bhata (1973). Kumar passed away on July 7, 2021, at the age of 98.