When Saira Banu advised Vinod Khanna not to leave films in search of spirituality

Veteran actress Saira Banu, who is known for sharing anecdotes from her life and about her late husband, Dilip Kumar, had once advised actor Vinod Khanna not to leave his stardom in search of spirituality.

At the peak of his career, Khanna had become a disciple of Osho and took a break from films to follow his guru.

Saira recollected telling Vinod, "At that time, I told him many times, 'You are one of the brightest stars of today and everyone knows you will scale tremendous heights in your career.'"

Saira earlier had recollected in her Instagram post, as she told him, "You are too promising. Please don't go. Why do you want to take this hiatus? The entire industry was crestfallen at the move. Vinod always ensured that we ladies on the sets had comfort levels while going home from the studio. One day, I sent my car back home for some work, and unexpectedly director Atmaramji finished shooting much earlier than expected.

"He had a tiny Volkswagen and saw that my car had not arrived; he then looked at all the things I carried with me and immediately offered his car to drive me home safely. I said, 'Mera itna saaman kahan aayega, tumhari chhoti si gaadi mein.' So he said, 'I will wait until your car arrives.' Such a chivalrous man he was."

Khanna was an ardent follower of Osho and even worked as a gardener at his ashram.

He was called Swami Vinod Bharti by Osho and frequented Pune's Osho International Meditation Resort before shifting to Rajneeshpuram in Oregon, US, in 1982.