When Dilip Kumar's Marriage With Saira Banu Suffered Due To His Closeness With Nargis

An entire era in the Hindi film industry came to an end with the demise of legendary actor Dilip Kumar on July 7, 2021. In an illustrious career spanning nearly six decades, Dilip gave remarkable performances in many films that are still etched in the minds of audiences. Apart from professional commitments, his personal life also remained the talk of the tinseltown.

Reports of his link-ups with popular actresses like Vyjayanthimala, Kamini Kaushal, Madhubala and others often filled the columns of film magazines. However, many would surely not know that Dilip, often referred to as the tragedy king of Bollywood, was head over heels in love with Nargis. Even though his emotions were never reciprocated by Nargis and Dilip was already married to Saira Banu, he left no stone unturned to spend maximum time with her.

Due to this, Dilip’s childhood friend and renowned star Raj Kapoor also remained at loggerheads with him. A detailed account of this has been written in the book Dastan-E-Mughal-E-Azam, written by journalist Rajkumar Keswani.

As written in this book, initially, the role of Anarkali in the film Mughal-E-Azam directed by K Asif was offered to Nargis. However, she backed out of this magnum opus, which later acquired the status of a classic masterpiece. Two reasons were reported for this decision of Nargis. The first is the refusal by her mother and classical music singer Jaddanbai. Jaddanbai never wanted her daughter to play the love interest of Dilip in any film. Secondly, Nargis loved Raj Kapoor and didn’t want to spoil her relationship with him. Due to these reasons, she opted out of the film.

Due to these reports of Dilip’s proximity to Nargis, his married life suffered a devastating blow. Apart from this, his marriage suffered another problem when he secretly married Hyderabad socialite Asma Rehman in 1981, which the actor later said was “a grave mistake”. At the time of this wedding, Dilip had already been married to Saira for 16 years. Later, he ended his second marriage with Asma in 1983.

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