Bollywood's yesteryear actress Sadhana dies

Shaina NC, treasurer, BJP Maharashtra. Spokesperson, tweeted: "Legendary actress my Sadhna ji passed away. May her soul rest in peace. The most dignified star ever,"
  
Born in a Sindhi family in Karachi in undivided India as Sadhana Shivdasani , she  made her screen debut as heroine under the Filmalaya Production banner in their 1960 romantic film Love in Simla.  

 

In 1955 she, however, had first appeared before arc lights when she played a chorus girl in the iconic song "Mur mur ke na dekh mur mur ke" in Raj Kapoor's Shree 420.

She in 1964 became a big name with her mysterious role in the suspense-thriller trilogy, Woh Kaun Thi?. Acting opposite Manoj Kumar she also got her first Filmfare nomination as Best Actress. 

The same director Raj Khosla cast her in two more mystery films, Mera Saaya(1966) and Anita (1967) and she became the famous "Mystery girl" of Bollywood.

In Mera Saaya, the song "Jhumka Gira Re" sung by Asha Bhosle  saw her perform the peppy dance steps choreographed by Saroj Khan. It is said that cine goers would throw coins at the screen when the song sequence came. 

Her films in the later years that got her acclaim included Intaquam (1969), Ek Phool Do Mali (1969), and Geeta Mera Naam (1974), which she also directed.

On her famous haircut she had once told an interviewer: "I had a broad forehead hence despite make -up Nayyar Sahab, the movie’s director, was not satisfied by my looks. Therefore he decided to give me a different hair style which would hide my forehead. Nayyar sahab had seen the Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn, who used to have a fringe. He brought a picture of Audrey Hepburn and showed it to our hair stylist. The idea clicked as the fringe worked wonders and became famous as Sadhana cut.”

Her contemporaries Waheeda Rehman and cabaret queen Helen were her close friends among other heroines of her time and they rushed to her residence to pay last respects

She was detected with a tumor and had been battling cancer for long.  

 

Sadhana was married her Love in Simla director Ram Krishna Nayyar. They were married for nearly thirty years, until Nayyar died in 1995 from asthma. The couple had no children.