Sadhana

Sadhana:

She was named after the actress Sadhana Bose, her father's favourite. Sadhana spent her early life seeped in film culture. The family fled from Karachi during the post-Partition riots. Although, they encountered difficult times, their daughter was allowed to see as many as two films a week. In 1958, she made her debut with India's first Sindhi film, 'Abana'. She was paid only the token Re.1 for the film, but it was a short leap from there, when S Mukherjee offered her the lead role in 'Love In Simla', in 1960.The film was a great success and Sadhana became a star overnight. The Sadhana fringe caught on like wildfire and as she gave more hits like 'Hum Dono' in 1961, 'Mere Mehboob' in 1963, 'Rajkumar' in 1964 and 'Waqt' in 1965, her style became very popular. Of the 19 releases, she had, 11 were Silver Jubilee hits. She was also identified with mystery and suspense thrillers and was consecutively cast in three such films - 'Woh Kaun Thi' in 1964, 'Mera Saaya' in 1966 and in 'Anita' in 1967. In 1966, she married her 'Love In Simla' director, RK Nayyar. Soon after, she encountered a series of physical problems. Her thyroid problems worsened, her eyes bulged. She was removed from major films like 'Around The World' opposite Raj Kapoor and 'Sunghursh' opposite Dilip Kumar.She then underwent treatment at the Leigh Clinic in Boston. She did some successful films after her treatment like 'Inteqam', 'Ek Phool Do Mali' and 'Geeta Mera Naam', but her life was never the same. Today, a widow, she lives all alone, shunning all publicity.