Mumbai, Nov 3 (IANS): Veteran actress Saira Banu, who is known for sharing anecdotes from her life and about her late husband, the cinema icon Dilip Kumar, had once advised actor Vinod Khanna to not leave his stardom in search of spirituality.

At the peak of his career, Vinod Khanna had become a disciple of Osho and took a break from films to follow his Guru.

Saira once recollected telling Vinod, "At that time, I told him many times, 'You are one of the brightest stars of today and everyone knows you will scale tremendous heights in your career.'"

Saira earlier had recollected in her Instagram post, as she told him, "You are too promising. Please don't go. Why are you intending to take this hiatus? The entire industry was crestfallen at this move (sic). Vinod always ensured that we ladies on the sets had comfort levels while going home from the studio. One day, I sent my car back home for some important work, and unexpectedly director Atmaramji finished shooting much earlier than expected."

"He had a perky tiny Volkswagen and saw that my car had not arrived, he then looked at all the paraphernalia of needy things I carried with me and immediately offered his car to drive me home safely. I said, 'Mera Itna Saaman Kahan Aayega, Tumahari Beautiful Choti Si Gaadi Mein.' So he said, 'I will wait until your car arrives.' Such a chivalrous man he was (sic)."

Vinod Khanna was an ardent follower of Osho and even worked as a gardener at his ashram.

He was called Swami Vinod Bharti by Osho and frequented Pune's Osho International Meditation Resort before shifting to Rajneeshpuram in Oregon, US, in 1982.

Vinod also left his family behind in India.