Sadhana Shivdasani

Sadhana (Sindhi: साधना) (born 2 September 1941) is an Indian Bollywood actress. She was one of the top stars in the 1960s and the early 1970s. Beside becoming the fashion icon for young Indian girls with her specific hair style, still known as Sadhana cut, she become famous as Mystery Girl with her three suspense thriller films namely "Woh Kaun Thi" [1964], "Mera Saaya" [1965] and "Anita" [1968]. In the year 1965 she was nominated for prestigious Film Fare Award for film "Waqt".^[1]

Early life

Shivdasani was born in 1941 and named after her father's favorite actress Sadhana Bose. Her father was the brother of actor Hari Shivdasani. Sadhana is a cousin of the actress Babita, who is the daughter of actor Hari Shivdasani and mother of actresses Karisma & Kareena Kapoor. Sadhana has an elder sister named Sarla. Her mother home-schooled her until she was 8 years old. The family fled from Karachi, Pakistan during the post-Partition riots.

When she was 15 years old, she was discovered by some producers who had seen her act in a college play. They cast her in India's first Sindhi film titled Abana (1958), where she played the heroine's younger sister for which she was paid a token amount of 1 rupee. A photograph of her publicizing the film appeared in a movie magazine. Sashadhar Mukherjee, one of cinema's major producers at that time, saw the magazine and gave her the lead role in her first Hindi film Love in Simla (1959), opposite his newcomer son, Joy Mukherjee. The film was directed by another newcomer, R.K. Nayyar, who created her trademark look called 'the Sadhana fringe.'

Early 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). She entered an acting school run by film producer Sashadhar Mukherjee. R.K. Nayyar chose Shivdasani for Love in Simla (1960).

Film career

Her films included Mere Mehboob (1963) and "Woh Kaun Thi?" for which she earned a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress. Khosla cast her in two more mystery films, Mera Saaya (1966) and Anita (1967). She would earn her second Filmfare nomination as Best Actress for Waqt (1965).

She had serious health problems with her thyroid and went to Boston for treatment and she recovered. Later starred in Inteqaam (1969), Ek Phool Do Mali (1969), and Geeta Mera Naam (1974), which she also directed. She then decided to retire from acting. She and her husband formed a production company afterwards. She also directed a film starring Dimple Kapadia in 1989.^[1]

Personal life

Sadhana married R.K. Nayyar in 1965, she was married to him for nearly thirty years, till his death in 1995. She has no children. She lives in Mumbai as a tenant in an apartment building owned by singer Asha Bhosle. Recently, Sadhana claimed that the builder Yusuf Lakdawala threatened her to vacate from her ground floor property. Lakdawala wants to redevelop the property.^[2] Earlier too, Lakdawala tried to coerce Sadhana but had to back off, once she complained to Bal Thackeray.^[3]

The press published photographs of Shivdasani in 2010.^[4][5]

Filmography

References

External links

• The Ultimate Sadhana Webpage : www.sadhanastar.com - A fan made website full of detailed information!
• Sadhana at the Internet Movie Database
• A detailed biography
• Eat - Sadhana’s cut Sadhana talks about her favorite food and gives a recipe on a Sindhi dish.