Saira Banu to Madhubala, revisiting Dilip Kumar's onscreen leading ladies (IN PICS)

Saira Banu to Madhubala, revisiting Dilip Kumar's onscreen leading ladies (IN PICS)

It is said that initially, Dilip Kumar refused to pair with Saira Banu dismissing her to be too young for him. His real-life heroine Saira went on to do films like "Gopi" (1970), "Sagina" (1974) and "Bairaag" (1976) after marriage.

Madhubala and Dilip Kumar were a pair of dreams and doom. It is said that their pair in the epic "Mughal-e-Azam" was an obituary to their tragic love. Their first film together was "Tarana" (1951). They later worked in "Sangdil" (1952) and "Amar" (1954).

Meena Kumari was the Tragedy Queen of Bollywood while Dilip Kumar was Tragedy King. Yet, interestingly, they worked together in the light-hearted films "Azaad" (1955) and "Kohinoor" (1960), where the two did cheerful roles. They also acted together in "Foot Path" (1953) and "Yahudi" (1958).

Dilip Kumar had declined to play the role of Nargis's son in "Mother India" in 1957 after romancing the actress in previous films. Nargis acted in seven films with Dilip Kumar, from "Anokha Pyar" (1948) to "Deedar" (1951). They played childhood sweethearts, separated by circumstances in "Mela" (1948).

The superhit film "Andaz" (1949) starring Nargis, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor was a love triangle. In 1950 came two films, "Babul" and "Jogan". In 1951 they did another love triangle, "Deedar", this time with actress Nimmi.

"Kaun kambakht bardasht karne ke liye peeta hai?" says Devdas, played by Dilip Kumar, to Chandramukhi played by Vyjayanthimala. The pair gave epic romances to the screen in "Devdas", "Madhumati" and "Gunga Jumna". They worked in seven films together, from "Naya Daur" (1957) to "Paigham" to "Leader" (1964) and "Sunghursh" (1968).