Instinctual Beauty-Saira Banu

Saira Banu was born on August 23, 1944 in India to actress Naseem Banu of 30s-40s, and the granddaughter of a courtesan Chamiyan Bai, also known as Shamshad Begum. Saira had spent a significant part of her childhood in London, and went to finish school.

Saira Banu's niece Shaheen Banu was also an actress who was married to former actor Sumeet Saigal and since divorced and remarried to Atul Patel and IFA in London. Always a fashion plate, Saira was forever encased in the pearl strings, chokers, mink stoles and mathapatti saris designed by mother Naseem.

Saira Banu also known as Saira Bano made her acting debut opposite Shammi Kapoor in the 1961 hit film Junglee for which she earned her first Filmfare nomination as Best Actress. It also instantly made Saira a successful actress throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. After having a long time affair with Rajendra Kumar, she got married to Dilip Kumar in 1966.

She wore a swimsuit in April Fool, followed by a number of movies including Resham Ki Dori, Victoria no. 203, International Crook, Saazish, Pocketmaar, Purab Aur Pacchim. Saira's chemistry with Dharmendra was awesome in Saazish.

Victoria No. 203 was the best among the lot where Saira put on a lovely show with all time famous Ranjeet.

Saira's valiant attempts to establish a reputation as an actress after Gopi, Sagina and Bairaag and films like Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Chaitali met with limited success.

Saira Banu did earn 3 additional Filmfare nominations as Best Actress for Shagird (1967), Diwana (1968), and Sagina (1974). In 1976, Saira chose to end her film career. In 1984 Saira appeared in a cameo opposite her husband in the film Duniya and made her last film appearance in the 1988 film Faisla.