Saira Banu remembers deceased Mohan Kumar, the director who made her sing

The prolific filmmaker Mohan Kumar, who passed away quietly this week, made two of his most important films with Saira Banu. Saira takes time off to share her memories of working with Mohan Kumar. “We used to call him Kumarsaab. He worked with filmmaker J. Om Prakash to give a team of filmmakers who gave us blockbuster in the 1960s and ’70s. I did one of my earliest film Ayee Milan Ki Bela (AMKB) with Kumarsaab. This was right after my first film Junglee. I was a newcomer, shooting with Rajendra Kumar and Dharmendra. The shooting in Kashmir was among the most memorable times. We would look out of the window of our hotel and see clouds hanging down. We would shoot in this paradise every day but sometimes it was impossible. Kumarsaab would look out of the window and say, ‘Today the cloud factory is in full operation. No shooting today.’ He would then organise indoor games for all of us.”

If Mohan Kumar made Saira dance in Ayee Milan Ki Bela, he persuaded her to sing for the second film, Aman. Saira recalls, “It was an important film that we shot in Japan. And I did sing, and that too with the one and only Mohd. Rafisaab. I always wanted to sing but was too shy. My grandmother Shahmshad Begum was an accomplished classical singer and I’d urge her to teach me. She would demand that I practice, which I never did. But finally, it happened in Kumarsaab’s Aman.”

She fondly recalls, “Would you believe it? Mohansaab maintained his relations with Yusufsaab (Dilip Kumar) and I until last year. On our birthdays and for festivals, he would come home with two garlands for us, and have biryani before leaving. For a year we hadn’t seen Mohan Kumarsaab and I kept asking everyone what happened to him. Now he’s gone. I will always remember him as generous, kind, jovial easygoing and a fun person.”