Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu's love story has inspired generations, but their marriage faced a turbulent phase when Dilip Kumar entered into a second marriage with Asma in 1981. Saira reportedly learned about the marriage through newspaper reports, leaving her deeply devastated. The marriage to Asma was short-lived, as Dilip soon realized it was a mistake and ended it. He later reconciled with Saira, and their relationship emerged stronger.
Asma's Move to Canada for Privacy
Asma found herself at the center of intense media scrutiny and chose to leave India. In a 1983 interview, later shared by YouTube channel ITMB Shows, Asma spoke about relocating to Vancouver, Canada, after her separation from Dilip Kumar. Reflecting on the constant attention, she said, “What do I do? Even I don’t like it but what can one do about it? Even in India, the media was after my life and I thought it will be more peaceful in Vancouver but it feels like I am not meant to have peace.”
She added, “I feel there is a total lack of privacy no matter where I go. I really don’t like it.” Asma explained that while she already had family in Canada, her decision to move was largely driven by a desire to escape the relentless spotlight. “It was because of the media which was hounding me. I just wanted to get away from it but I just can’t,” she said.
Media Reports Called 95% False
At a time when tabloid journalism thrived on celebrity gossip, Asma and Dilip Kumar's relationship became a constant topic of discussion. Looking back, Asma claimed that most reports about their relationship were inaccurate. “95 percent of the things that were written about me were false,” she said. She also questioned how the media could claim knowledge of private conversations between her and Dilip Kumar. “Conversations that take place between two people, which are personal and private in nature, how can anyone know about them? But these people’s imagination is just so wild that they just make up stories,” she said.
Dilip Kumar's Autobiography Confession
Many years later, Dilip Kumar confessed about his second marriage in his autobiography, 'The Substance And The Shadow: An Autobiography'. He described it as starting as an innocent interaction between a star and his fan in Hyderabad. The actor had met Asma through his sisters and was told she was married with three children. But Asma and her husband showed up wherever he went. "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.
He regretted the marriage and confessed to causing pain to Saira. "Admitting that marrying Asma was a grave mistake, he divorced 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, adding, "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." Dilip Kumar signed a letter of commitment to Saira to restore the promise he had made to her parents that there would never be a talk of any second marriage.
Circumstances Behind the Second Marriage
Author Udaytara Nayar, who worked on Dilip Kumar's memoir, told City Express, “There are many versions about it but the truth is that the whole thing was orchestrated by Dilip Sahab’s two sisters. They had never liked Saira and the book reveals how they treated her when she came into Sahab’s life as a wife. They created circumstances where Sahab was trapped and this second marriage was their way of getting back at Saira.”
Another theory at the time was that Dilip Kumar remarried because he and Saira had not been able to have children. Years later, the actor revealed the personal tragedy the couple had endured. In 1972, Saira lost their baby boy during the eighth month of pregnancy, a heartbreak that remained one of the most painful experiences of their married life.
