SADHANA ACTRESS BIOGRAPHY
"Yes I was attracted to the good looking men I worked with. But I didn't say so unfortunately, all of them were married. If I didn't have crushes here and there, I would probably think I was abnormal! I had a lot of men friends who were very much a part of my life. I didn't get a chance to interact with heroines much
because in those days, there were very few two hero-two heroine films. The only film I did with another heroine, was Hum Dono. Here I met Nanda and it was a pleasant experience."
~ Sadhana💗
"Sadhana was initially hesitant to act with a new hero like me but we developed a good rapport while working in Bimal Roy's, 'Prem Patra'. Sadhana's eyes and smile were her assets." - Shashi Kapoor💗
A still from Prem Patra (1962) featuring the beautiful jodi💗
Sadhana ji and Yash Chopra sir seen at the sets of Waqt (1965), during the shoot of the song 'Maine ek khwab sa dekha hai'💗
It is said that during her heydays, four men were besotted by her beauty. These were R. K. Nayyar (whom she later married), filmmaker Raj Khosla, actor Joy Mukherjee and filmmaker Yash Chopra.
She was working with the great Guru Dutt in a film titled Picnic, in the early 60's (not to be confused with the one starring Manoj Kumar, Kalpana, Azra, Shubha Khote etc. that released in 1966). This project was been directed by R. S. Tara, with music given by N Dutta. The project was shelved, and the reason behind it, is believed to be the untimely death of Guru Dutt on 10th of October, 1964. However, a part of the song - 'Kitna Rangeen Hai Yeh Chand Sitaron Ka Sama' from the movie, a romantic duet number sung by Mohammad Rafi and Asha Bhosle, featuring Guru - Sadhana, is available on You Tube.
The above pic is a still from the beautiful song starring the two legends💗
P. S. They looked so adorable🤧💘
"Nayyar Saab told me, 'You have three voices. One is your natural every day voice, another voice that you use to scream at me, and the third is the voice you have cultivated for the screen'."😅💗
What better tribute than Shah Rukh Khan voting the Abhi na jaao chod kar number filmed on her and Dev Anand in Hum Dono as his most romantic song? What better compliment than mothers taking their li’l girls to the hairdresser for a ‘Sadhana cut’ decades after she popularised it? What better proof of her sense of style than the fact that the fusion churidar-kurtis and mojris she wore in Waqt have never really gone out of fashion? What greater testimony to her stardom that the media still wants to seek out the ‘mystery girl’, 35 years after she quit showbiz...
It wasn’t easy getting an interview with yesteryear diva Sadhana. It needed its fair share of cajoling and persistence. The reclusive actress lives on the ground floor of the now ‘disputed’ old-world bungalow in the suburbs, a verdant courtyard holding back the buzz from the adjoining bylane. There are no telltale signs of past glory in her drawing room. No photographs, no awards, no flashbacks. “That was a different part of my life. The day I quit, I never looked back. That’s why I don’t give interviews,” says Sadhana who renounced acting after the silver jubilee Geeta Mera Naam in 1974. “I don’t want to play mother roles. Maybe it’s my ego but I’d rather be remembered as the khoobsurat Sadhana and a good actress,” says the ‘mystery girl’ of thrillers Woh Kaun Thi, Mera Saaya and Anita in the ’60s. And while black and white memories have preserved her soft features, Sadhana at 70 is a feisty woman waging a court battle against builder Yusuf Lakdawala who allegedly wants her to vacate the rental bungalow. “I’m living a quiet life, away from the limelight. Why should anyone trouble me?” is her stance.
The exquisite Sadhana never did fit in the ‘normal mould of the Indian heroine’. “Firstly, I was convent educated. Secondly, I wasn’t conventionally beautiful. But I guess there was a certain freshness about me,” she says. “I was always interested in dancing and drama. While I was studying in a Sindhi college, I did a play. One gentleman saw it and signed a few of us for the Sindhi film Abana, based on the Partition. The film’s ad appeared on the cover of a film newspaper. S Mukerji (veteran filmmaker) saw it and approached me,” recalls she. “When S Mukerji’s Filmalaya took me on, the banner was just being launched. So if a new camera arrived, they’d say, “Camera test karna hai, Sadhana ko make-up lagao. So I wasn’t really nervous when I faced the camera for Love In Simla (1960, opposite Joy Mukerji).” Later she did Bimal Roy’s Parakh. “When I was shooting the song O sajna barkha bahar aayee, Bimalda said I reminded him of Nutanji. I admired her very much. She was a natural and had such sadness on her face.”
FRINGE BENEFITS
She narrates how she got the famous ‘Sadhana fringe’. “I had a broad forehead, which showed prominently in photo tests.It would then be covered with a patch of hair. When we were about to start Love In Simla, the director (RK Nayyar, whom she later married) said the patch wouldn’t do. Those days Audrey Hepburn’s Roman Holiday (in which she sports a fringe) had just released. So I was promptly rushed off to a Chinese hairdresser and given a fringe. It became famous as the ‘Sadhana cut’.”
Later, she in tandem with veteran costume designer Bhanu Athaiya, went on to create the ‘fusion churidar’ patronised by girls even today. “I wore churidars with conventional kurtis in Mere Mehboob. I then asked Bhanu to create a fusion of the traditional churidar and modern kurti for my personal wardrobe. One day Yashji (Chopra) happened to come home to discuss my costumes in Waqt when I walked in wearing a sleeveless, gold-embroidered kurti, churidar and mojris and a chic hair style, he went, ‘Wow! What you’re wearing is exactly what I want for my film.’ “The style went on to become a craze.”
ON A SONG
The actress with a Mona Lisa smile is also associated with some of filmdom’s most romantic numbers. Jahan mein aisa kaun hai (Hum Dono), Lag jaa gale (Woh Kaun Thi), Mera saaya saath hoga and Nainon mein badra chaye (Mera Saaya) being some of them. “I was lucky to get such outstanding songs. Lataji (Mangeshkar) always sang my songs in her concerts.” She denies she had to counter any contention with her peers. “There were three of us, Saira Banu, Asha Parekh and me. If the producers wanted someone pretty and decorative they took Saira. If they wanted a dancer they’d take Asha, if they wanted histrionics they’d sign me. So there was no rivalry. Asha and I kept in touch. We’d wish each other on our birthdays. But today Waheeda (Rehman), Asha, Nanda, Helen and I meet regularly over lunches. When five ladies meet we always have something to talk about,” she smiles adding, “Nanda and I are two of a kind, we don’t step out at public events at all.”
FANNING HYSTERIA
Sadhana, given her ‘mysterious’ aura, had developed her own legion of fans. “One day I decided I wanted to buy sarees. So I went to Kala Niketan with my mother. Within half an hour a crowd of 5000 had gathered outside. The staff got nervous and said, ‘Our showroom windows will be smashed’. They had to down the shutters. But how do I escape? Finally, the police was called in and I was escorted out through a small door at the back and zoomed off in a police car. The Kala Niketan staff pleaded, ‘Next time we’ll send you the sarees home’.” Also when she wore burqas in Mere Mehboob, she inadvertently set off a ‘veiled’ trend. “Burqas came handy for me too,” she smiles. “Once I went to Chor Bazar in a burqa with some friends. Suddenly, there was a buzz and we heard the shopkeeper saying, ‘Yeh Sadhana hai... I recognised her by the small toe which overlaps the longer one on her feet’,” she narrates pointing to the natural peculiarity which she was born with. “We quickly huddled in the car and fled.”
NO NONSENSE GIRL
Interestingly, Sadhana found love young. The 16-year-old debutante had lost her heart to her Love In Simla director RK Nayyar during the shoot. “I more than liked him. But I knew I had a family to support. After the Partition we had come here from Pakistan with nothing. So we parted ways, he continued with his work, I with mine.” What about her heroes? “The problem was they were all married — Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Manoj Kumar, Rajendra Kumar...,” she smiles. “We worked from 9.30 am to 6 pm. By the time I returned home, removed the spray from my hair and washed off the make-up, I was too tired. There was no time for a social life. It was strictly work and home. My heroes also knew I was a no nonsense girl. They were scared to make a pass at me,” says Sadhana who’d be happy reading a book in between shots. “I enjoyed working with all my heroes though Sunil Dutt, Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar were my favourites. Interestingly, Aap Aaye Bahar Aayee with Rajendra Kumar flopped when it was released in the ’70s but became a super duper hit when it was re-released 11 years later.”
LOVE AND MARRIAGE
Coming back to her fondness for Nayyar, she says, “Our relationship took off again after we broke off the first time. One day he proposed to me on the telephone. My parents were against the marriage. But my father said ‘Jab miya biwi raazi to kya karega kazi?’ My mother finally gave in.” She recalls, “We got engaged at Nayyar saab’s Pali Hill residence. For my engagement, I wore a mauve Banarasi saree. It was for the first time a heroine had invited a thousand guests just for her engagement. For my wedding (1966), I wore a pink saree with silver embroidery with diamonds and a magenta stole to complement it.”
After marriage, Sadhana worked sporadically and went on to do Ek Phool Do Mali, Intaqam and Geeta Mera Naam (she even directed it). “I quit after Geeta Mera Naam. I was not keeping good health (she was suffering from a thyroid disorder). Some suggested it was the effect of an ‘evil eye’. I even went to the US for treatment. Producers had begun shying away from me. I realised what goes up has to come down.”
The plus side was that after quitting films, life became one uninterrupted holiday. “I travelled to Paris, America... the world over, saw movies and enjoyed a normal life. I hadn’t enjoyed a vacation since the age of 15,” says Sadhana who had got married at 22. She continues, “My husband was a foodie. I learnt all kinds of cuisine — Chinese and European. We stopped dining out. He’d say, ‘The world’s best food is cooked at home, I refuse to eat bad food even as a change’. The greatest compliment he paid me was, ‘Cooks come and go but the standard of the food served at home has never changed’. We had planned menus for summer, monsoon and winter. I could serve some 20 types of dals in
a month!”
She doesn’t deny that her marriage had its share of turbulence. “We had a lot of ups and downs. After I got married, Nayyar saab’s Yeh Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hai flopped. Later films like Pati Parmeshwar and Qatl also didn’t do well. There were a lot of loans to be repaid. People expected me to pay them off.” She recalls the day her husband passed away. “He was an asthma patient and was feeling uneasy despite being given a jab. Before we reached the hospital, he had collapsed.” She continues, “One week before he died, he had predicted, ‘You’re strong and tough. But if something happens to me, initially things will be difficult for you’. I had retorted, ‘What if something happens to me?’ He had replied, ‘Phir do arthiyan uthegi (there’ll be two deaths). I’ll not be able to survive without you’.” After his demise in 1995, Sadhana gave the staff a three-month notice and wound up the production business.
Presently, she’s enjoying the leisure that retirement offers. “I do gardening for two hours in the morning. Then sometimes I take a massage. After lunch I go to the club and play cards. In the evening I watch TV. I also have a group of non-filmi friends.” She confides that initially, she did miss not having a child. “But I know so many mothers who’re distressed about their children and daughters-in-law, that I think God has been kind to me. Yes, I do fear that if something happens to me, no one would be around. But even those who have children can’t depend on them.” She goes on to reveal, “I’ve adopted (though not officially) a baby when she was five minutes old. She and her parents live with me. Her name is Rhea and she’s 10 now. She’s added a zing to my life. I don’t expect anything from her yet she gives me so much love. She calls me Nani. I’ve planned for her education and marriage. I believe in karma — hisab chukana hai (you have to repay debts).” She adds softly, “Greed has no end. I’ve seen everything in my life — clothes, jewellery and money. I don’t need a Mercedes. I’m comfortable with my small car, which I can drive around. I don’t feel lonely at all. I’m having a ball.”
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