Early life

Saira Banu was born in India to actress Naseem Banu of 30s-40s , and the granddaughter of a courtesan Chamiyan Bai, also known as Shamshad Begum (not to be confused with the famous playback singer of the yesteryear Shamshad Begum). Saira had spent a significant part of her childhood in London, and went to finish school.

Her niece Shaheen Banu was also an actress who was married to former actor Sumeet Saigal and since divorced and remarried to Atul Patel and IFA in London.

Career

Banu made her acting debut opposite Shammi Kapoor in the 1961 hit film Junglee for which she earned her first Filmfare nomination as Best Actress. Junglee was written by Aghajani Kashmeri (aka Kashmiri), who also coached her in Urdu dialogue delivery, given his background in Urdu literature and poetry from Lucknow. Junglee also instantly made her a successful actress throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. After having a long time affair with Rajendra Kumar, she got married to Dilip Kumar in 1966, Saira looked for dramatically challenging roles.

She wore a swimsuit in April Fool, followed by a number of movies including Resham Ki Dori, Victoria no. 203, International Crook, Saazish, Pocketmaar, Purab Aur Pacchim. Her chemistry with Dharmendra was awesome in Saazish.

Victoria No. 203 was the best among the lot where Saira put on a lovely show with all time famous Ranjeet.

Her valiant attempts to establish a reputation as an actress after Gopi, Sagina and Bairaag (all with Dilip Kumar) and films like Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Chaitali met with limited success. She did earn three additional Filmfare nominations as Best Actress for Shagird (1967), Diwana (1968), and Sagina (1974). In 1976, Saira chose to end her film career. Subsequently she weathered a storm in her marriage in 1980 which was quickly resolved. She then appeared in a cameo opposite her husband in Duniya (1984) and made her last film appearance in the 1988 film Faisla. She has since become a successful television producer recently producing the television serial Stree... Teri Kahani which has been written by her niece Shaheen Patel.

Filmography

• Faisla (1988)
• Duniya (1984)
• Hera Pheri(1976)
• Zameer (1975)
• Chaitali (1975)
• Resham Ki Dori (1973)
• International Crook (1973)
• Victoria No. 203 (1972)
• Saazish (1972)
• Purab Aur Paschim (1971)
• GOPI (1970) with Dilip Kumar
• Aadmi Aur Insaan (1969)
• Jhuk Gaya Aasmaan (1968)
• Padosan (1968)
• Aman (1967)
• Diwana (1967)
• Shagird (1967)
• Pyar Mohabbat (1966)
• Yeh Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hai (1966)
• Saaz aur awaaz (1966)
• April Fool (1964) ... Madhu/Rita Christina
• Ayee Milan Ki Bela (1964) ... Barkha Choudhry
• Door Ki Awaaz (1964)
• Bluff Master (1963) ... Seema
• Shaadi (1962)
• Junglee( 1961) ... Rajkumari 'Raj'
• Sazish... Vikas Kaushal