Entertainment/Events

Saira Banu and her inspiring story

News Mania Desk / Piyal Chatterjee / 9th May 2025

The Bollywood realm appears extremely glamorous from the outside, but only those within understand the internal struggles. Following extensive dedication, struggle, and a lengthy wait, an individual’s fortune glows in the film industry. Not everyone requires a godfather in the film industry. Numerous actors have left their imprint despite originating from a non-film environment. If you look at any page in the history of film, you will encounter an outsider performer. In this context, today on Cinemagram, we are discussing the actress who comes from a family of courtesans. Grandmother and great-grandmother were sex workers, whereas mother was a star of Hindi films. In this context, allow us to share information about that actress.

The actress from a family of courtesans is none other than Saira Banu. She might have been the leading actress in the industry before, but if her mother had not emerged from the world of courtesans and brothels, history would have changed. It was not Saira Banu who initially envisioned being an actress, but her mother, Naseem Banu, who turned that dream into reality.

If we discuss the fight to escape the alleyways of the brothel, then this tale is somewhat lengthy. Saira Banu’s grandmother, great-grandmother, and mother resided in the brothel. Even her mother and grandmother owned a brothel in Delhi. This was not their occupation, but Saira’s great-grandmother entered this line of work due to necessity. The tale starts with Jumman Bai, who happened to be Saira Banu’s great-grandmother. At the age of seven, her father sold her to a brothel in Hasanpur.

The cause of this was that he disliked girls. Nevertheless, Jumman Bai wished to avoid living in that predicament. She frequently attempted to escape, prompting the brothel owner to send her to Delhi, where she continued to be trapped on the streets of the brothel. At the age of 18, she had a daughter, who was the child of Ratan Singh, an employee in the brothel. The name of that girl was Shamshad. After Saira Banu’s birth, Shamshad became her grandmother. Shamshad has been exceptionally beautiful since she was young. It is reported that when she was around 12 or 13 years old, her mother and Saira Banu’s great-grandmother Jumman Bai placed her in a brothel. There, she gained fame as Chamiya. Her attractiveness was so remarkable that even Nawabs and English officers from distant regions would travel to admire her. One time, Abdul Wahid Rehman, the noble of Hasanpur, had a dispute with an English officer over Chamiya Bai.

Naseem Banu eventually became Saira Banu’s mother. However, prior to that, she had risen to fame as a well-known Bollywood actress. Since childhood, Naseem had a passion for becoming an actress. Chamiya Bai sought to escape this predicament, so she arrived in Mumbai alongside Naseem. Upon arriving in Mumbai, Naseem would accompany her mother to observe film shoots. In the meantime, one day, Saurabh Modi noticed Naseem. At that moment, she was in the 11th grade.

He wanted to offer her a film. In such a situation, somehow mother Chamiya was convinced. She worked in many hit films, and later she was named Naseem in the industry itself. She has been a successful actress of Indian cinema. She was also given the tag of ‘The First Queen of Indian Cinema’. Naseem was married to Ehsaan Ul Haq and Saira is his daughter, who herself is a well-known name in the industry and wife of late actor Dilip Kumar.

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