New Delhi, Dec 16 (UNI) Master political strategist, Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar once used his abilities to tackle a situation in quite a different arena, mediating between Bollywood’s most celebrated couple Dileep Kumar and Saira Bano when their marriage was on the rocks. The crisis arose when Dileep Kumar went in for a second marriage with Asma Rehman, rattling Saira Bano and surprising the whole Bollywood world. In his just released autobiography, 'On My Terms', Mr Pawar confirms a revelation once made by the veteran actor in his book that he (Pawar) mediated between him and wife Saira Bano. 'What he has written is a fact. It was solely on the request of his wife Saira Banu and Dilip Kumar himself that we (he and Rajni Patel) intervened and I am happy that things worked out well,' Mr Pawar writes in his book released last week. He describes the actor as 'a terrific orator who keeps the audience spellbound for long.' He says as a personal friend, Dilip Kumar volunteered to address many of his election rallies in Baramati and would call up his Pune-based childhood friend Vitthal Maniyar and would ask, 'Suna hai elections aaye hain. Bataaiye kab jaana hai( I hear elections have been announced. Tell me when I should go). 'Keeping aside his other engagements, he stole time between his shooting schedule and travelled all the way from Mumbai to Baramati to address poll rallies. The turnout was always huge and the crowd lapped up every word he said,' writes Mr Pawar. However, there was some discomfort between the actor and the politician when the former came to him to show some leniency to Sanjay Dutt following his arrest in the Mumbai blast case in 1993. 'He was saddened by the discomfiture of his friend Sunil Dutt(Sanjay Dutt’s father) and wanted me To be a little lenient.' But Mr Pawar says he expressed his helplessness, citing the strong evidence against Sanjay. 'Though a certain chill crept into our ties after that, relations between Saira Banu and my family continue to be warm as ever,' says Mr Pawar. 'He is now 93 and ailing. I went to meet him some time ago, but unfortunately he could not recognise me.' Mr Pawar says that he had no fascination for Hindi films, and hardly had any friends in the cinema world, Dilip Kumar has been an exception. He was introduced to the actor through the then Bombay Pradesh Congress Committee president barrister Rajni Patel. 'The three of us grew quite close. Since our families also got acquainted, all of us went on long vacations in India and abroad whenever time permitted,' says Mr Pawar.