Sadhana (actress)

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Sadhana
Born Sadhana Shivdasani
September 2, 1941 (1941-09-02) (age 66)
Karachi, Sind, India
Occupation Actress
Years active 1958–1977
Spouse(s) R. K. Nayyar

Sadhana (Sindhi:ساڌھنا, born September 2, 1941 in Karachi, Sind, India) is a popular Indian Bollywood actress. Her family moved from Karachi during Partition in 1947. Her cousin was actor Hari Shivdasani (father of actress Babita).

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[edit] Start of Career

Hari helped Sadhana enter films. She was a chorus girl in Raj Kapoor's Shree 420 in 1955. She played a second lead in a Sindhi film called Abana (1958), which got her noticed and entry to an acting school. The school was run by film producer Sashadhar Mukherjee, and also had another aspiring actress named Asha Parekh as a student. When Mukherjee was casting Dil Deke Dekho (1959), he gave director Nasir Hussain a choice between Sadhana and Asha to play the heroine; Hussain chose Asha.

However, for his next project, Love in Simla (1960), Mukherjee again gave his director, R.K. Nayyar (Raj Kapoor's assistant) a say in who should play the heroine. Nayyar chose Sadhana, and she was paired with Mukherjee's own son Joy Mukherjee in the film. During the making of the film, Sadhana and director R.K. Nayyar fell in love, and married in 1966.

[edit] Film career

R.K. asked Sadhana to style her hair with a fringe (like Audrey Hepburn); this hairstyle later became a craze and is still referred to as the "Sadhana cut" in India.

Sadhana's film Mere Mehboob (1963) with Rajendra Kumar was one that helped make her career and is said to have some of her most beautiful closeups in early Technicolor. However, it was Raj Khosla's "Woh Kaun Thi?" (1964) which really became a landmark in her career and gave her the image of the "mystery girl," where her spellbinding performance kept everyone guessing to the very end. The film became a huge hit and earned her her first Filmfare nomination as Best Actress. Khosla was so enthralled with her performance that he would cast her in two more big-budget mystery films, Mera Saaya (1966) and Anita (1967). She would earn her second Filmfare nomination as Best Actress for the blockbuster Waqt (1965), where she set another fashion trend with her tight churidar kurtas.

In the late 1960s, a thyroid problem affected her eyes, marring her looks. She went to Boston for treatment and made a successful recovery, but film offers had dried up. She delivered only three hits in the period, with Inteqaam (1969), Ek Phool Do Mali (1969), and Geeta Mera Naam (1974), which she also directed. After Geeta Mera Naam, she quit acting, saying that she wanted her fans to remember as a young, beautiful leading lady.

[edit] Personal life

She lost her husband after two decades of marriage, and had miscarriages. She now lives alone and does not like to be photographed. However, in 2006, Asha Parekh revealed that she, Sadhana and other 1960s stars get together for lunch to ease the loneliness and enjoy each other's company.

[edit] Filmography

Year Movie Role Note
1958 Abana
1960 Love in Simla Sonia
Parakh Seema English: The Examination
1961 Hum Dono Mita
1962 Prem Patra Kavita Kapoor English: Love Letter
Manmauji
Ek Musafir Ek Hasina
Asli-Naqli Renu
1963 Mere Mehboob Husna
1964 Woh Kaun Thi? Sandhya/Seema
Rajkumar Princess Sangeeta
Picnic
Dulha Dulhan Rekha
1965 Waqt Meena Mittal
Arzoo (1965 film) Usha
1966 Mera Saaya Geeta/Nisha (Raina)
Gaban
Budtameez Shanta
1967 Anita Anita
1969 Sachaai Shobha Dayal
Intaquam Reeta Mehra
Ek Phool Do Mali Somna
1970 Ishq Par Zor Nahin Sushma Rai
1971 Aap Aye Bahaar Ayee Neena Bakshi
1972 Dil Daulat Duniya
Mehefil
1973 Hum Sab Chor Hain
1974 Geeta Mera Naam
Chhote Sarkar (1974 film)
1975 Vandana (film)
1977 Amaanat Suchitra
1994 Ulfat Ki Nayee Manzilen

[edit] References

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