Veteran actress Saira Banu's Instagram timeline is nothing less than a treasure trove of priceless memories. On the 84th birth anniversary of late actor Feroz Khan, Saira Banu walked down memory lane and reminisced her experience of working with the “dashingly handsome” star in the 1969 film Aadmi Aur Insaan. Saira Banu has shared two scenes from the Yash Chopra film, featuring herself and Feroz Khan. The veteran actress in a lengthy caption revealed that Aadmi Aur Insaan was her fourth collaboration with legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra. Saira Banu wrote, “Years later, Yash [Chopra] ji behested me to do “Aadmi Aur Insaan” a love triangle featuring Dharm ji [Dharmendra], Feroz [Khan], and myself.”
Calling Feroz Khan “well-mannered and soft-spoken”, Saira Banu revealed that this was the first time she was sharing the screen space with the actor in her entire career. She added that on the first day of Aadmi Aur Insaan, the entire cast was shooting for the “glamorous song” Zindagi Ittefaq Hai by Asha Bhosle. Saira Banu wrote, “This is the first time I worked with Feroz, the industry's style icon, dashingly handsome and famous for his sophisticated looks. He was well-mannered and soft-spoken. The first shoot of “Aadmi Aur Insaan” featured an ensemble of us all in a glamorous song number, where Mumtaz is singing “Zindagi Ittefaq Hai” seductively twirling around the heroes and me.”
Remembering the day, Saira Banu said that the atmosphere on the set was “happy-go-lucky”. Mumtaz and Feroz Khan were “needling each other with witticisms and humour”. Saira Banu said, “It was fun to watch the happy-go-lucky atmosphere of the set where old friends, Feroz and Mumtaz kept needling each other with witticisms and humour. Dharamji and I would roll with laughter at this game of one-upmanship between the two.”
“Whenever we met at functions or studios at shooting, Feroz would admire Appaji's (Naseem Banu ji) beauty and praise the beautiful apparel and jewellery she designed for me, particularly the feathery pink outfit for the ice-skiing scene to which he exclaimed. “This is too beautiful, God! This is Cute”,” Saira Banu added.
She continued, “Many films were lined up for Feroz [Khan] and me, but we could only do 2 films together. Later, “Kaala Sona” was offered to us but I fell ill suddenly and had to forgo this.”
She added, “When Feroz [Khan] became a producer and director, he visited me and my mother as he wanted me to be the lead in “Apradh”, and do a westernised role in his ambitious project but I was already doing a similar role in Manoj [Kumar] ji's “Purab Aur Paschim” that was especially written for me by Manoj [Kumar] ji and he had said if I didn't do it he would scrap the script.” She concluded by saying, “Feroz and I shared similar home atmospheres. I remember a meeting, where his staff members were shuffling coins on the table and Appaji had harkened them to wash the coins before spilling them on the table because coins go everywhere and are dicey. Suddenly, Feroz said, ‘My God! Appaji you are doing exactly what my mother does. She is also finicky about little things, especially cleaning coins before they are handled in the house by anyone!'”
Feroz Khan passed away at the age of 69 on April 27, 2009, after a battle with cancer.
