Style icon of 1960s Sadhana Shivdasani is no more

Mumbai: Veteran actress Sadhana, who mesmerised audience with her beauty and powerful performances in timeless hits like Hum Dono, Love in Simla and Waqt, died on Friday at a hospital in suburban Santa Cruz here after a brief illness.

 

“She was admitted to the hospital day before yesterday due to high fever. She was okay... She had her tea in the morning at around 7.30 am and suddenly I got a call from her secretary at around 10 am that she collapsed and passed away. It was sudden and shocking... We were to meet her at 5 pm today. It’s sad,” Sadhana’s close associate and advocate Ameet Mehra said.

 

Earlier, reports suggested that the 74-year-old effervescent actress died at her residence. Her last rites will be held on Saturday at a crematorium in Santa Cruz.

 

Sadhana Shivdasani, who popularised the fashionable “Sadhana cut”, was one of the top most charming leading ladies of the 1960s and the ’70s.

 

Although her prime career spanned over a decade-and-a-half, she was paired opposite all big heroes of her time including Joy Mukherjee, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar, Manoj Kumar and Dev Anand with whom she shared screen space in Hum Dono and Asli-Naqli.

 

Also, she worked with top notch directors of that era be it Bimal Roy in Parakh or Hrishikesh Mukherjee in Asli-Naqli.

 

Her memorable roles include those in “Love in Shimla”, “Hum Dono”, “ Asli Naqli”, “Arzoo”, “Mere Mehboob”, “Waqt” and “Woh Kaun thi.”

 

Born in a Sindhi family, Sadhana was named after her father’s favourite actress-dancer Sadhana Bose. Her father was the brother of actor Hari Shivdasani, father of actress Babita.

 

Sadhana aspired to be an actress since childhood and it was her father who helped her to chase her dreams of becoming an actress.

 

In 1955, Sadhana Shivdasani played a chorus girl in the song “Mur mur ke na dekh mur mur ke” in Raj Kapoor’s “Shree 420”.