Why Sadhana was the first real female style icon of Hindi cinema
Often I have wondered whether Lord George Gordon Byron may have written the following poem for a lady who resembled renowned Hindi film actress Sadhana. For these beautiful lines immediately bring to mind the picture of this shining star of the Golden Sixties:
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
Sadhana Shivdasani (known popularly as Sadhana), would have turned 77 years old (on September 2) had she been with us today. She was truly the very first heroine of Indian cinema who set trends and styles that were followed faithfully by thousands of her female fans. Before her, there were no definite fashion statements being made by film heroines that could be easily picked up by the audience.
Her magic, however, worked itself on every young mind and heart. Her famous hairstyle (the fringe created to cover her broad forehead) is the first thing that comes to mind in this context. Known till date as the “Sadhana Cut”, it is still very popular among young girls. In the film Love in Simla, her debut film in Hindi, there is a scene where she is given this haircut as part of the story and script! So we can actually witness the emergence of this new look of Sadhana while we watch this black and white classic.
For years before her death, her fans could hardly get a glimpse of this lady who had ruled the silver screen in the 1960s with her heart-stopping looks and her sincere performances. She chose to stay away from the camera and the limelight because of her wish to be remembered as she was at her best – the brilliant smile, the bright and beautiful eyes, the gracious walk and the sweet voice.
In the films of the 1960s, she stands out among all the heroines as the one who introduced new style outfits, especially her churidaar-kameez which were simple and elegant. She was the slimmest among the heroines of those times and carried off such dresses gracefully along with the “mojris” and “juttis” that enhanced the look of the churidar –kurtas. Pastel shades worn by her in the film Waqt also took the imagination of the female audiences by storm and pastels became the in thing.
The ghararas and shararas worn by her when she played the young Husna in Mere Mehboob became a rage too! When she went for the first day of shooting for this film, she had merged her fringe with her hair and it could no longer be seen. The director, HS Rawail, was taken aback and asked her why she had done this.
She replied that as she was playing a Muslim girl from a family of Nawabs in Lucknow, she thought the fringe would be out of place. The director said that he had cast her as she was Sadhana, the charmer, and would not let her hide the fringe! And he was right. She looked her prettiest in this film. Noted poet and writer Javed Akhtar, in one of his television shows, said that she became the “mehboob” of all young men in the country.” She looked just like a fairy”!
It is true that we still remember her as “Husna“ of Mere Mehboob, Usha of Arzoo and Meena of Waqt, three of her most well-known films in the sixties which expressed her talent best and in which her classic beauty took everyone ’s breath away. When we watch these blockbusters today, we are mesmerised by Sadhana. Her film Mera Saya with Sunil Dutt was another great hit at the box office. In this film, she played a double role and in one of the roles, her ethnic lehngas and jhumkas set off a new trend.
When she was presented to the audience by Raj Khosla in a trilogy of suspense films (Anita, Mera Saaya and Woh Kaun Thi), her mysterious smile was compared to that of Mona Lisa. Who can forget the scene from the film Arzoo (where she has been deserted by her lover and she is walking through the fallen red Chinar leaves on an autumn day in Kashmir).
Lata ji’s haunting voice behind this lovely face (“Bedardi Baalma tujh ko mera mann yaad karta hai”) has made this film and Sadhana immortal. In her white kurta-churidaar, wearing her favourite “mojris”, she looks a perfect picture of a woman in the depths of pain resulting from betrayal in love. Nobody else could carry this attire as gracefully as she did, though many heroines did follow the style. These styles keep returning and reminding every generation of this charming lady who introduced them.
Sadhana has been compared to the British star Audrey Hepburn due to the similarity in their hairstyle (the famous fringe) and being style icons. We have all heard the story about how, on the sets of Love in Shimla (her first Hindi film), the director RK Nayyar, who later became her husband, got inspired by the fringe of Audrey Hepburn and made Sadhana cut her hair in this style to cover her rather broad forehead.
When her exquisite eyes were affected due to her illness, it was as if an “evil eye” had made this happen to one whose eyes were the most vibrant part of her personality.
It was a sad Christmas day for me in 2015 when I heard about the passing away of the charming and inspiring Sadhana.