Abhi naa jao chhod kar, ki dil abhi bhara nahin. Perhaps this would be the first reaction of millions of fans to the passing away of veteran actress Sadhana. She had sung this evergreen song with Dev Anand in film Hum Dono and won the hearts of cine-goers with her grace and beauty. The vivacious actress of 1960s and 70s breathed her last battling cancer in Mumbai at the age of 74. Her last rites will be held on Saturday.
Soon after the news broke, radio and television channels started playing some of songs filmed on her — the lovely numbers everyone could connect with.
Sadhana Shivadasini made her debut opposite Joy Mukherjee in love in Simla. Her first encounter with camera was as a child artiste in Shri 420 directed by Raj Kapoor. She later acted with him as a leading lady in Dulha Dulhan and songs like “mujhe kehte hain kallu qawal” and “humne tujhko pyar kiya ha jitna kaun karega utna” became overnight hits.
love in Simla was a super hit and Sadhana never looked back. She gave several commercially successful films till the day she decided to fade away from the glamour world in late 1970s. Rajendra Kumar, Dharmendra, Sunil Dutt, Shammi Kapoor, Manoj Kumar and Sanjay Khan — you name the heroes and Sadhana has given a hit film with everyone.
In fact, such was her mesmerising presence and screen appeal that it was assumed that any film having Sadhana would be worth a watch. During the black and white era, Sadhana and Dev Anand again paired for Asli Naqli after Hum Dono and were given the thumbs up by cinema lovers.
At the height of her career, she also introduced new fashion trends like fringe hair cut which came to be branched as “Sadhana cut”. The actress also popularised “churidar salwar kurta” and white ballyshoes or ‘jutties’.
High necklaces and white sarees were another trademark of the actress and young women used to take along their tailors to the cinema halls to show them Sadhana’s dresses to copy. Interestingly, Sadhana rarely wore heels in the films and even with sarees and salwar kurtas jutties were her style statement.
Sadhana’s films were worth the penny as good music, and interesting storyline was guaranteed with her name. In blockbuster movie Waqt she paired up with Sunil Dutt as a chirpy young woman. Such was her glamorous presence that despite having Sharmila Tagore as the second heroine, Sadhana got to feature in four songs — Chehre pe khushi chha jati hai, Hum jab simat ke aapki bahon mein aa gaye, Kaun aya ki nagahon mein chamak jag uthi and main eek khwab sa dekha ahi.
Sunil Dutt and Sadhana came together again in Mera Saaya and songs of the film, including tu jahan jahan chalega mera saaya saath hoga and Bareilly ke bazaar mein jhumka gira re were top grosser in those days.
In fact, she played double role in the film with a slightly negative trait and her acting skills were appreciated.
Although her prime career spanned over a decade-and-a- half, Sadhana was paired opposite all big heroes of her time. She also worked with top notch directors of that era be it Bimal Roy in “Parakh” or Hrishikesh Mukherjee in “Asli Naqli”.
Another film of her to mesmerise the audiences was Mere Mehboob whose songs like mere mehboob tujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam and mere mehboob mein kya nahin were instant hits.
Born in a Sindhi family in Karachi, Sadhana was named after her father’s favourite actress-dancer Sadhana Bose. Her father was the brother of actor Hari Shivdasani, father of actress Babita.
Filmmaker RK Nayyar, whom Sadhana married later, directed the romantic movie love in Simla starring Sadhana and Joy Mukherjee in 1960. Her remarkable double role in suspense thriller Woh Kaun Thi, opposite Manoj Kumar, earned her first Filmfare nomination as Best Actress.
Sadhana suffered from a disorder of her eyes due to hyperthyroidism. After her retirement, she refused to be photographed as apparently she wanted to be remembered the way she was.
