Legendary actor Manoj Kumar celebrates his 87th birthday (July 24). To mark the occasion, his contemporary Saira Banu shared a special post for the actor. They appeared together for the first time in the 1962 film Shaadi.
The movie, directed by R Krishnan and S Panju, also featured Dharmendra in a key role. Saira Banu has uploaded a black-and-white picture featuring her late husband, cinema legend Dilip Kumar, whom she lovingly calls “Sahib,” and Manoj Kumar. In the text attached to the post, Saira Banu shared how she “comfortably” worked with Manoj Kumar on the sets of Shaadi.
She wrote, “Soon after my first film I received so many offers amongst which was ‘SHAADI'. Here for the first time I played opposite Manoj ji. I was a very shy youngster and I had this peculiar habit of really being awkward on the sets while doing romantic numbers.
Manoj ji is very understanding he would quietly just move away from the set while my solo shots were being filmed. We were both people of very few words but worked comfortably together.” Sharing how her husband Dilip Kumar was Manoj Kumar's “idol”, Saira Banu added, “Manoj ji's idol has been Sahib.
They were close and would always venture to make different types of Omeletes, flying kites, and indulging in ‘Sher-O-Shayari'. There is a big joke, when the duo starred in ‘AADMI', Manoj ji started to assume the gestures associated with Sahib. After which Sahib laughingly said to Manoj ji, ‘Yaar Tu Meri Tarah Shots Kar Le.