Life is 'pheeka', says Saira Banu on Dilip Kumar's first death anniversary

Mumbai, July 7

It’s been a year since Dilip Kumar’s death and it’s as if the very colour has drained out of Saira Banu’s life. He was her husband of 55 years, her anchor, her world and days without him are “pheeka”, the veteran actor’s wife said on Thursday. 

Doctors have advised her to mix up with people but it’s a “difficult thing” despite her efforts to move on, Saira Banu said on Kumar’s first death anniversary.

“My life is ‘pheeka’ without Yousuf saheb. This is a different kind of love. You just cannot replace some people in your life. Give me all the wealth in the world and Dilip saheb on one side, and I would want Dilip saheb,” Saira Banu told PTI in an interview here. 

He may have been Dilip Kumar, amongst the few etched into the annals of cinema with roles in films such as ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ and ‘Shakti’, but for Banu, he was her ‘saheb’. 

The twinkle in his eyes, his love for Hindustani classical music and his fondness for special tea poured from an equally special piece of crockery, are just a fistful of vivid memories that the veteran actor recounts of her husband. 

Many such memories stirred n Thursday, a year since he passed away at the age of 98.

“We will have a prayer meeting with our family and close friends. We will meditate and pray that his soul rests in peace and that he may be in the best place of Jannat with his God,” she added. 

“Today, a year has gone by and I am trying to move on but in vain,” said Banu. 

“I miss him. I’m all alone now. Emotionally, I am not well and that reflects on my health,” she added. 

The 77-year-old has been in and out of hospitals since Kumar’s death. 

Industry colleagues and close friends Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan have also been in touch with her, she said.