Saira Banu recounts when MF Hussain began sketching a portrait of Dilip Kumar

IANS

On MF Husain’s 108th birthday on Sunday, veteran actress Saira Banu took a trip down memory lane and recalled how the Indian artist started sketching the portrait of late legendary star Dilip Kumar, who was having a high fever. Saira took to Instagram, where she shared some throwback images of the artist along with the actor.

She wrote, “Maqbool Fida Hussain was a dear friend and admirer of Sahib alongside other close friends. Often, they would meet at The Taj Hotel Chambers for high tea, lunch, dinners, and family functions at home, and also at midnight when Pran Saab and Satish Bhalla would honk the horn outside our house asking Sahib to wake up for a midnight drive! Ooof! We wives have to exercise patience!”

She then jogged her memory and recalled, “I vividly remember Mr Husain’s visits to our home. Once Sahib had a high fever, and Mr Husain and Mrs Bakul Rajni Patel visited, they sat by his bedside, and suddenly, Mr Hussain pulled out a drawing paper and started sketching a portrait of Sahib. I always treasure that sketch. Next time he came equipped with tons of pristine painting canvas which he stretched out on the drawing room’s floor, made Sahib sit on a chair, and made a portrait. Later, he submitted it to a museum in Hyderabad.” She added, “I proudly remember that he had declared that Pari Chehra Naseem Banu’s face was the most beautiful that he ever painted.”

#Instagram