In Pic: Saira Banu. (Pic/Instagram)
Saira Banu has been sharing anecdotes about her film âJunglee' alongside Shammi Kapoor. The actress in yet another post recalls the time when the team shot the surfing scene for the song âKashmir Ki Kali'.
She wrote, "After that hilarious incident and my confident affirmation that "Main Kar Ke Dikhaungi," Subodh Uncle prepared for the shot with Srinivas, the cameraman, and the music began, believe it or not. I got it right and performed the shot beautifully! So, I was filled with a sense of determination that, God willing, I would never give up like this. Shammiji walked up to me, held my shoulders, and laughed. "You see, you needed a little bit of a push and some scolding." I was quite a sensitive girl, and I was deeply hurt, so I promised Shammiji that I wouldn't work with him until I proved myself as a good artist. True to my word, I turned down several films, like "PROFESSOR" and "JAWAAN MOHABBAT," until decades later when B.R. Chopra Sahab cast me opposite Amitabh Bachchan, and I played Shammiji's daughter in "ZAMEER." We both used to laugh about this unique casting turn of events!"
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Further recalling the body double-ditched everyone and how Banu didn't know how to surf, the actress shared, "There is another sequence in the song "Kashmir Ki Kali," where the heroine is surfing in the deep waters of Nageen Lake, infested with long weeds. The duplicate girl for the shot didn't show up, and I had never surfed in my life. Shammiji was so skilled at driving the boat to which my surfing plank was tied that I said a prayer and just went into the water. He expertly maneuvered the boat, allowing me to complete the surfing scene without any retakes. Meanwhile, my mother, Naseemji, fainted onto a chair out of sheer fright that I might drown in the deep waters!
You see, this was the first time I met Shammi Sahab, one of the greatest actors and the first 'Rock Star' of Indian Cinema. With his fantastic sense of music, he created his own style of emoting songs. However, at that time, I didn't know much about him. I had once seen him at the premiere of "DIL DEKHE DEKHO" when I had come to Bombay for my school holidays. He was sitting behind us, and for some reason, whenever scenes between the hero and heroine were on the screen, he would loudly exclaim, "Hamam Sabun Say Nahaatey Hain Sabhi!" So, my mother and I would turn around to see who was making this noise. It was Shammiji, sitting there so regally! Well, Shammiji was much more than just this, and I must talk about it in the days to come.
