Dilip Kumar, one of the greatest actors in Indian cinema, was not only popular for his acting skills but was also known for his personal life, especially his marriage with Saira Banu, who was 22 years younger than the superstar. But, there came a time, 16 years into their marriage, when the couple went through a heartbreaking time as Dilip Kumar secretly married another woman named Asma Rehman. Dilip Kumar always felt sorry after making this decision and breaking Saira Banu's heart. When Saira Banu got to know the news of Dilip Kumar's second marriage through the newspapers, the truth left her heartbroken.
But, in this saga of Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu's troubled marriage, there was also the drama surrounding his marriage with Asma Rehman and its aftermath. After Dilip Kumar and Asma Rehman's marriage, she faced intense backlash due to which she had to escape to Canada.
In a 1983 interview in Vancouver shared by ITMB Shows on YouTube, Asma Rehman said that she relocated to Canada after her marriage with Dilip Kumar ended. Asma Rehman shared, "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 would be more peaceful in Vancouver but it feels like I am not meant to have peace. I feel there is a total lack of privacy no matter where I go. I really don’t like it."
Asma Rehman said that she moved to Canada to be near her family and escape the media pressure. "Firstly, I wanted to move here because I have family here. Secondly, 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.
Asma Rehman revealed that 95% of what the media reported about her and Dilip Kumar was not true. She said, "People write whatever they want, they just want to fill up the space. 95 percent of the things that were written about me were false. 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."
Dilip Kumar ultimately legally divorced Asma Rehman after confessing his “grave mistake” to Saira Banu. He also signed a "letter of commitment" to her and renewed the promise he had made to her parents that he would never marry a second time.
Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu remained together until his death in 2021.
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