SADHNA
O Phooloon ki Rani!
Baharon Ki Malika , Tera Muskarana;Gazab ho gaya sang Rajendra Kumar to her in Arzoo sometime in sixties. Dev pleaded her to stay back a while! In ‘Hum
Dono’ “ Abhi na Jao chod Kar Ke Dil Abhi Bhara Nahin” . She
inspired Shakeel to pen “Mere
Mehboob Tuzhe Meri Mohabbat Ki Kasm!, in ‘ Mere Mehboob’ and motivated
Hasrat Jaipuri to quote “ Ik But Banaoon ga Tera
aur Pooja Karoonga ,are Mar jaaoon ga Pyar agar mein Dooja Karoonga” in
‘Asli Naqli’. Yes! They all wooed sadhna the refreshing beauty of sixties who
made ‘churidar –Kurti ‘ a big hit in ‘Waqt’. Sadhna is no more she died yesterday at age 74. I did see her
sometimes in news among litigation, fighting for her house with her Landlord/
Tenant ! But that was not the way I wanted to see her. It was on the screen of
sixties that she reigned and I wanted to see her like that! Always !
She belonged to the era when we used to fall
in love with the heroine. The love lasted strong for few days after seeing the
film , those few days of ‘Khumar’ were cathartic . She belonged to time
when beauty was beauty and the cult of consumerism had still not captivated us.
She belonged to those days when assembly line creation had not commenced and
charm was distinct !
Her first
film was with Joy Mukherjee ‘ love in Shimla’, which was a hit and was directed
by R K Nayyar whom she married later . She was hailed as a star and there was
no looking back. Her hair style known as ‘Sadhna Cut’ was famous. Actually it was created by her director to
cover her rather large forehead, but became a cult. Reputed banners wooed her
;‘Arzoo’ with Ramanand sagar ‘Waqt”, Directed by Yash Chopra and produced by B
R chopra was a big hit and perhaps a first multi- starrer of its time. We
recognize our stars through films, scenes, dialogues and songs. But since songs
are such integral part of Indian Cinema we remember songs more than perhaps
film and sometime recognize stars and films through them. She gave Raj Khosla
two big hits- ‘Mera- Saaya’ and ‘Who Kaun Thi’, these were heroine oriented films.
The popular song “Jhumka gira re Barailey Ke Bazar Mein” and the classy , “ Tu
Jahan Jahan Chale ga , Mera Saaya saath ho
ga” were from Mera Sayya.
It was not only the commercial film makers who wanted her cast but the less commercial and selective film makers liked to give her good roles- we still
remember her as pretty Mita of ‘Hum- Dono’ who left her rich father to be with
the lonely mother of Dev when he went to war. Hrisikesh Mukherjee cast her in
‘Asli Naqli’ opposite Dev and we cannot forget
Dev and she singing “tujhe Jeevan Ki Dor se Bandh liya hai,Tere
Zulmon Sitam Sar Aaankhon par” . The great Bimal Roy cast her in three
films- ‘Parakh’, ‘Prem Patra’ and ‘Benazeer’ and her image is immortalized as
she sang the iconic Saawan song in ‘Parakh’ penned by Shailendra - “ O
Sajna Barkha Bahar Aayee, Ras ki Phuhaar Laayee , Aapnoon mein Pyar Layee..”
Her career was cut short by the occurrence of
‘Thyroid’ and despite treatment she could not conceal her bulging eyes which
marred her beauty . Her last big hit was ‘Intequam’ she made the famous song ”Kaise
rahun chup ke maine peehi kya hai hosh Abhi tak hai baki aur zara si dede saki
aur zara si..”. The song sung by Lata was on top of the chart of Binaca
geet Mala for a long time. She never ventured into any side roles despite Raj
Kapoor requesting her to do the role of Rishi’s mother in ‘Bobby’, she politely
declined , the role went to Sonia Sahni.
She belonged
to the age when Cinema was Young. When Cinema was scarce . When Cinema was Rare . When Cinema
had to be draped . When Cinema had to be Stolen. When Cinema was festivity.
When Cinema was Celebration. The Age that is no more. As she is no more!
“ Lag Ja Gale Ke Phir Ye Hansi Raat ho nah o Saayed is
Janam Mein Mulaquat Ho Na Ho.. Lag Ja Gale..” (Madan Mohan’s haunting song filmed on Sadhna in ‘Who Kaun Thi’ )
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