‘Woh Kaun Thi’: The many facets of Sadhana from hit actress to fashion trendsetter

New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) Her film career’s foundation was laid when she was just five and her father renamed her after his favourite actress – Sadhana Bose. Sadhana kept the faith, not only becoming one of the Hindi films’ most popular and eagerly sought actresses, with almost every film she did, from breezy rom-coms to suspense thrillers to tear-jerkers, emerging a box office hit, but also an abiding fashion influencer.

While her Audrey Hepburn-inspired hairstyle – the famous ‘Sadhana cut’ of fringes, which has had its adherents from Lalu Prasad Yadav to Bipasha Basu’s toddler daughter, is the most enduring, there was much more to Sadhana’s legacy.

Her sartorial choices — the form-fitting kurtas and churidar pyjamas, the dupatta knotted on the neck, and the large earrings — and even her mannerisms — covering her mouth while laughing, were eagerly copied by generations of female fans, leaving an impact that far outspans her modest oeuvre. However, of her 33-odd films in just over a decade, with top heroes from Dev Anand to Dharmendra and Rajesh Khanna, all, save a few at the very end, struck gold.

With her delicate and sculpted features, expressive and soulful eyes and emotive capacities, Sadhana, who was born on this day (September 2) in 1941, was as natural playing a rich heiress or an urban working woman as she was in the role of a village belle, or a tribal princess. However, her most stunning performances came as a “mystery woman” in a trilogy of taut supernatural-tinged suspense films – ‘Woh Kaun Thi?’ (1964), ‘Mera Saaya’ (1966) and ‘Anita’ (1967).

Possibly the only actress who has co-starred with all three Kapoor brothers — Raj, Shammi, and Shashi, she was among the top three highest-paid actresses for over a decade, and proved that she could give hits even after marriage and overcoming health problems.

And for good measure, Sadhana is probably the only Hindi actress who lip-synched to a song sung in a male voice!

However, this was a temporary phenomenon — music director Madan Mohan stepped in to render ‘Naina barse rimjhim’, the signature song of ‘Woh Kaun Thi’ for the exquisite and eerie Sadhana, as Lata Mangeshkar was unable to be present, so that the shooting could be wrapped up.

Like ‘Naina barse…’, songs from Sadhana’s films still rule the hearts — take ‘Barkha bahar aayi’ (Parakh), ‘Abhi na jaao chhodkar’ (Hum Dono), the foot-tapping ‘Tujhe jeevan ki dor se’ and ‘Tera mera pyar amar’ (Asli Naqli), ‘Mere mehboob tujhe’ — the best example of an Urdu ‘sarapa’ — or a description of the beloved, the hauntingly plaintive ‘Lag jaa gale’ (Woh Kaun Thi), ‘Hum jab simat ke aapki’ (Waqt), the crowd-pleaser ‘Jhumka gira re’, ‘Mera saaya saath hoga’ and ‘Nainon mein badra chhaye’ (Mera Saaya), ‘Tumne pukara aur hum chale aaye’ (Rajkumar), the playful ‘Budtameez kaho ya kaho janwar’, and ‘Mujhe teri mohabbat ka sahara’ (Aap Aaye Bahaar Aayi), among many others.

Born in Karachi in 1941 as Anjali Shivdasani, Sadhana was keen on a film career ever since her childhood. After the family relocated to Bombay after Partition, she soon got a break as an uncredited chorus dancer in ‘Mudh mudh ke na dekh’ in Raj Kapoor’s ‘Shree 420’, and then a small role in India’s first Sindhi film as the heroine’s sister — for the princely remuneration of Re 1.

However, producer Sasadhar Mukherjee was so impressed by merely seeing her publicity still that he offered her the heroine’s role in ‘Love in Simla’ (1960), intended to launch his son Joy Mukherjee — and this became her successful debut. It was here she met her future husband, director R. K. Nayyar as well as getting her signature hairdo, which was actually intended to mask her wide forehead.

Sadhana proved her capability with Bimal Roy’s village political satire ‘Parakh’ (1960) but hit big time with ‘Hum Dono’ (1961). ‘Mere Mehboob’ (1963), ‘Rajkumar’ (1964), ‘Dulha Dulhan’ (1964), ‘Waqt’ (1965), ‘Arzoo’ (1965), ‘Ek Phool Do Mali’ (1969), ‘Ishq Par Zor Nahin’ (1970), ‘Dil Daulat Duniya’ (1971) were some other hits.

However, by the 1970s, she realised that her time as leading heroine was coming to an end, and unwilling to shift to character or supporting roles, made her directorial debut with ‘Geeta Mera Naam’ (1974), starring herself (in yet another double role) her swan song.

Though she and her husband occasionally dabbled in film production, they otherwise remained aloof and Sadhana became more of a recluse after he died in 1995. Her only contact with the film world was through monthly meetings with old friends like Waheeda Rehman, Nanda, Asha Parekh and Helen.

However, before she passed away on Christmas Day, 2015, Sadhana did make one public appearance — walking the ramp in a fashion show in 2014 for cancer and AIDS awareness, escorted by Ranbir Kapoor, a relative by marriage.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)

–IANS

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