Saira Banu on Lata Mangeshkar’s first death anniversary: I fell off my chair when she said her voice suited me the most

Lata Mangeshkar was not just someone with whom Saira Banu and late legend Dilip Kumar had a professional rapport. Their lives were intertwined with each other’s, so much so that Lata ji would tie a rakhi to him every year.

Banu tells us, “She has been my voice totally in films. I have been fortunate enough to start with her voice in my very first film Junglee. She recorded my first song Ja Ja Ja Mere Bachpan. I was fortunate enough that I watched an interview of hers a couple of years later, and when asked which heroine she thought her voice suited the most, Lata ji replied ‘Saira Banu’ I literally fell off my chair!,”

This was just her part of the relationship. Banu continues and recalls Yusuf saab (as Dilip Kumar was fondly called by her) and Mangeshkar’s close equation. “It was a different scenario at that time. Both of them would travel together in the same train for work, they were like brother sister. He would always tell her ‘aapki Urdu bauhaut achhi hai, isse aur polish kijiye’ She always treated me as her bhabhi, but would call me ‘Saira ji’ I always told her ‘please knock off the ji, you are so dear to me, I have a personal relationship with you!’,” recalls the actor.

Banu was touched by one ritual that Mangeshkar would always follow whenever she visited their house. “She had great respect for my grandmother, who was a great singer of classical music, known as Shamshad Begum. Not the one who would do playback singing in films, people mix her up. She sang live for Colombia records. Lata ji would come and the first thing she would do is touch my ammaji’s feet (her photo), like one gives their respect to a guru,” she shares.

One incident which sums up the close bond Yusuf saab, Banu and Lata shared with each other happened at Royal Albert Hall in London in 1974. She was the first Indian to perform live at the venue. Banu fondly recalls, “It was all beautifully arranged. Dilip saab was the person introducing her on stage. It was such a happening, that an entire album was made out of her performance. Dilip sahab said ‘Yeh meri chhoti si behen…’ He said that in London! He continued ‘Bauhaut hi mukhtasar si (it means small, doll-like) Then she sang. It was historical.”

The relationship was intact right till the very end of their respective lives. Banu says the two would keep constant tabs on each other’s health. “Whenever they would keep unwell. For many years, Dilip saab was unwell, and then Lata ji had her own problems, she got her knees operated as well. They would always be in touchm for the minutest details. It wasn’t ‘hello, how are you’, not like that. They would get into it, there would be an exchange about doctors, medicines, and discussions on it,” she tells us.

While the memories remain fresh, Banu is sad that due to her recent cataract surgery, she will not be able to make it to an event marking Mangeshkar’s first death anniversary. “The doctors have advised me to be on complete rest and not go outside, I would have loved to be there at this event in Mumbai,” she ends.