I am paying a tribute to one of my favourite film stars today. She passed away around two years ago, on Christmas Day, leaving her fans from various generations feeling extremely sad at this great loss. Had she been alive, she would have turned 76 in September this year.
Sadhana is such a star of our cinema who had a gentle yet vibrant personality. She had a rare mix of innocence and mischief that gave her an attraction that had thousands of hearts captivated. She has such an air of modernity around her when we watch her films, most of them from the jazzy 1960s. Three of her films that bring out the essence of her personality best, I feel, are “Arzoo”, “Mere Mehboob” and “Waqt”. The way she dressed, the delicate manner in which she walked, the sweetness of her voice and the enchanting beauty of her face created an effect nobody could escape from. Rajendra Kumar, who was then known as “Jubilee Kumar” as all his films were either silver or golden jubilees, was cast opposite her in Arzoo and Mere Mehboob. They made a fantastic romantic pair indeed! In Waqt, the Sadhana-Sunil Dutt pair looks equally charming. Her flm “Mera Saya” with Dutt was another great hit at the box office.
Sadhana was often compared to the British star Audrey Hepburn due to the similarity in their hairstyle (the famous fringe) and being a style icon. It is a fact that on the sets of love in Shimla (her first Hindi film), director RK Nayyar, who later became her husband, got inspired by the fringe of Audrey Hepburn and made Sadhana cut her hair in this style to cover her rather broad forehead. Actually, in a scene from this black and white film, the grandmother of the heroine (Sadhana) is shown cutting her hair into a fringe! Girls of that generation and down the generations have been adopting the “Sadhana Cut” which has always remained in fashion since 1960 when this film was released. This is the kind of style icon she was! The innocence and elfin charm of Hepburn and Sadhana are quite similar too.
When Raj Khosla directed Sadhana in a kind of a trilogy of mysterious/suspense films (Anita, Mera Saaya and Woh Kaun Thhi), her mysterious smile was compared to that of Mona lisa. Nobody could interpret this smile in these films, especially Woh Kaun Thhi and Anita. It was in her eyes that viewers found something very special. When I think of her, I always remember the scene from the film Arzoo (where she has been deserted by her lover and she is walking through the fallen red Chinar leaves on an autumn day in Kashmir). The hauntingly beautiful song by lata ji made it indeed memorable .The song is “Bedardi Baalma tujh ko mera mann yaad karta hai”. In her white churidar pajama and kurta wearing her favourite “mojris”, she looks a perfect picture of a woman in the depths of pain resulting from betrayal in love. These churidars and tight kurtas were a style she brought into the industry to replace the loose kurtas and salwars usually worn by heroines. And the mojris and jootis were her gift too.
The air of mystery associated with her due to the three mystery films she did became real when she withdrew from the industry due to health reasons and also ensured that she not be photographed. She wanted people to remember her as the lovely lady they had seen in the 1960s on the screen-the sweet Usha of Arzoo, the modern and attractive Meena of Waqt and the innocent and at the same time naughty Muslim girl, Husna, in Mere Mehboob. When her exquisite eyes were affected due to her illness, it was as if an “evil eye” had made this happen to one whose eyes were the most vibrant part of her personality. In some films, there are some scenes where her eyes look perfect and some scenes where we can see the effect caused by the disease. Such is the tragedy that can befall actors in real life even while they portray tragic characters in their films.
This is my tribute to the lovely lady and fine actress who has given me endless joy through the films she was a part of. She has touched my heart through her acting , her freshness and grace, her looks and also the strength and courage with which she went through her life .