"Film for all occasions and ages": Saira Banu as she celebrates 55 years of 'Padosan'

Mumbai (Maharashtra), November 29 : As the iconic movie 'Padosan' completed 55 years, veteran actor Saira Banu recalled working in the movie and shared her shooting experience with Sunil Dutt, Mehmood and Kishore Kumar.
She took to her Instagram handle and wrote, "We are talking about one of the most favourite films of my career, mine, and the public in general. It is 'PADOSAN', a film for all occasions and ages. I am glad that I did this because I had refused any work soon after my marriage. It was understood that I would not be carrying on with a professional career."
Banu continued, "It was then that Mehmood Bhai as he had earlier approached me for this film came running to Sahib, hugged him close, and kept saying in a rhetorical tone 'Yousuf Bhai you have to let Saira do this film for me. I will not let go of you until you say yes please please' Sahab was tickled to the bone and kept repeating laughingly 'Mehmood it is entirely up to Saira, You have to convince her. You have my absolute permission."
Recalling further how the ace actor Mehmood approached legendary actor Dilip Kumar to allow her to be part of this film, she said, "At that time everyone knew that Sahib had shifted his venue of shooting to the South and Mehmood very considerately committed to Sahib that he would shoot the film in Madras with me to facilitate Sahib and I being together. This was the 'Cherry on the Cake' and I said Yes to PADOSAN. I am glad that unlike the dozens of films that I let go of PADOSAN and PURAB AUR PASCHIM were not one of them."
The veteran actor added, "Mehmood Bhai shared scenes from the Tamil version of PADOSAN, and I laughed my guts out. We started shooting in Madras, and goodness it was a gathering of comedians, creating history with this film. The cast was so perfectly chosen that even I was initially surprised to see Dutt Saab as a simpleton 'Gaonwalla', I mean who could have imagined it? Dutt Saab would humorously say, 'Sairaji Yeh Kyaa Hain, Yeh Hum Kyaa Kar Rahein Hain? Hamein Toh 'Anthony and Cleopatra' May Kaam Karna Chahiye, Something Romantic and Glamorous."
She concluded with, "Until PADOSAN, I hadn't worked with Dutt Saab, who turned out to be lively and funny. On the contrary, Kishore ji was a very subdued gentlemanly star who would get up from his seat respectfully as soon as any Lady walked in. The shooting was a killer. I used to laugh uncontrollably so much that the Unit would turn off all the lights and say 'Ruk Jao, Abhi Madam Hass Rahin Hain'. It was that difficult for me to stop. Later, I will be sharing anecdotes about PADOSAN that are both funny and interesting.#55YearsToPadosan"
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Directed by Jyoti Swaroop, the musical comedy film 'Padosan' was released in 1968. It featured Sunil Dutt and Saira Banu in lead roles along with Mehmood, Kishore Kumar, Mukri, Raj Kishore and Keshto Mukherjee. The film was produced by Mehmood and N C Sippy.
The film was a remake of the Bengali film 'Pasher Bari', which was based on a short story of the same name by Arun Chowdhury starring Bhanu Bandyopadhyay and Sabitri Chatterjee.