Saira Banu Reminisces Dilip Kumar's Friendship With Pran On Latter's Birth Anniversary; See Post

In a span of a six-decade career, Pran Sahab essayed a varied range of roles, from romantic hero to those of supporting characters. The iconic thespian wooed audiences with his versatility and charisma. To honour Pran on his birthday anniversary, veteran Saira Banu penned a heartfelt note about his friendship with Dilip Kumar.

Taking to her Instagram handle, Saira wrote, “Happy Birth Anniversary Pran Sahab! Pran Sahab and Sahib remained close until the very end. Dilip Sahib always spoke very highly of Pran Sahab and to which he stated that ‘RAM AUR SHYAM WAS COMPLETED AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. Its work was a jolly experience for all of us. I was working with my friend Pran in Ram Aur Shyam and Aadmi at the same time. Pran and I were friends in the real sense of the term. We met at the work place and we met informally as often as we could either at his house or mine since we lived in the same locality: Bandra.'”

A post shared by Saira Banu Khan (@sairabanu)

Saira quoted Dilip Kumar as having said, “At work, we were invariably pitted against each other – our characters were always caught in a conflict over something or the other. It used to be very amusing for onlookers to watch the change that would come over him when he faced the camera with me in the frame after all the friendliness and affection they had seen a while ago between us.”

She continued, “We had enjoyed being together during the shooting of Bimal Roy’s Madhumati in the forest location where almost everybody else spoke in Bengali while we conversed heartily in Punjabi. He loved the evenings we spent sitting around a bonfire reciting exquisite poetry. We had some wonderful times in Madras when we were shooting for Ram Aur Shyam and Aadmi. We had just completed Dil Diya Dard Liya and the joke on the sets in Madras was ‘Pran aap ka peecha hi nahin chodta’. It was fine with me and fine with him because we liked each other’s company and respected each other as artists.”

Born Pran Krishan Sikand, the bonafide legend glorified the role of a villain in Indian films and went on to become one of the leading villains of the era.