Saira Banu was born on August 23, 1944 in Mussoorie, British India. Her mother Naseem Banu was also an Indian film actress and was often referred to as the "First Female Superstar" of Indian Cinema. Saira Banu's grandmother 'Chamiyan Bai' was a coutesan. Saira spent a major part of her childhood in the United Kingdom.

Saira Banu made her Bollywood debut at the age of 16 in the year 1961 opposite Shammi Kapoor. The movie was titled Junglee and is still famous for the song "Yahoo". Saira Banu earned a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress for her role of Rajkumari in Junglee.

Saira's second movie Shaadi was released in 1962 opposite Dharmendra. It was directed by Krishnan-Panju.

Saira Banu's was next seen in Bluff Master in 1963 and she was paired once again with Shammi Kapoor. Directed by Manmohan Desai, this movie featured some of the most memorable songs composed by Kalyanji-Anandji.

Saira Banu appeared in several movies after that and in the year 1966, she decided to get married to Dilip Kumar. After her mairrage in 1966, her first film to release was Aman opposite Rajendra Kumar and she continued to act as the lead heroine till 1977. But it is said that the turning point of her career was the comedy and love story Padosan in 1968 opposite Sunil Dutt, which brought her to the top league of the successful actresses. Padosan was a commercial success and the music of the film is still very popular. It was composed by Rahul Dev Burman and the lyrics were penned by Rajendra Krishan.

Saira Bano's last film was Faisla opposite Vinod Mehra. Faisla was completed in 1976 released in 1988.