Dilip Kumar, once Bollywood’s most eligible bachelor, remained in that position for quite some time until he finally married at the age of 44. His bride was Saira Banu, who was just 22 years old at the time. However, 16 years into their marriage, the couple faced a major crisis when Dilip secretly wed another woman, Asma Rehman. This decision left Dilip filled with regret, as he could never forgive himself for the pain he caused Saira. Saira first learned about the second marriage through the newspapers. Initially, she didn’t believe it, but the truth soon emerged, leaving her heartbroken.
In his memoir The Substance And The Shadow: An Autobiography, Dilip Kumar reflected on this painful period of his life, revealing that he first met Asma in Hyderabad during a cricket match. What began as an innocent interaction between a star and his fan eventually took a different turn. Dilip later discovered that there were hidden motives behind their meeting. He explained that he met Asma through his sisters, and she was introduced as a married woman with three children. Soon, he noticed that Asma and her husband appeared wherever he went, seemingly knowing his schedule. “I was completely unaware of a connivance that was being mischievously perpetuated and a situation being cleverly created by vested interests to draw a commitment from me,” he wrote.
In 1982, Dilip married Asma, and the news came as a tremendous shock to Saira, who had complete trust in him. This event deeply affected their relationship, and Dilip acknowledged the immense pain he had caused her. “I can never forget or forgive myself for the hurt I caused to Saira and the shattering of the unshakeable faith she had in me,” he wrote.
Dilip eventually confessed his “grave mistake” to Saira, asking her for time to legally divorce Asma. “Saira stood by me when I admitted the grave mistake and asked her to give me some time to undo the wrong through proper legal processes and restore the sanctity of our marriage of sixteen years. I requested Saira to give me some time to sort it all out,” he recalled. Before the divorce was finalized, Dilip signed a “letter of commitment” to Saira, reaffirming the promise he had made to her parents that he would never consider a second marriage.
Reflecting on this chapter, Dilip believed that he had been a “victim of a situation that was set to precipitate a deep crisis in my marriage with Saira.” He felt that there was a “divine purpose” behind the turmoil, and in the end, he expressed that the ordeal “strengthened our closeness and our emotional dependence on each other.” Dilip and Saira remained together until his death in 2021.
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