LIFTING THE VEIL OFF SADHANA'S SPELL

Recounting the beloved Bollywood icon's trailblazing legacy

- IANS

Her film career's foundation was laid when she was just five and her father renamed her after his favourite actress, Sadhana Bose. Sadhana kept the faith, not only becoming one of the Hindi films most popular and eagerly sought actresses, with almost every film she did, from breezy rom-coms to suspense thrillers to tear-jerkers, emerging a box office hit, but also an abiding fashion influencer.

While her Audrey Hepburninspired hairstyle, the famous Sadhana cut of fringes, which has had its adherents from Lalu Prasad Yadav to Bipasha Basu's toddler daughter, is the most enduring, there was much more to Sadhana's legacy.

Her sartorial choices -the form-fitting kurtas and churidar pyjamas, the dupatta knotted on the neck, and the large earrings and even her mannerisms covering her mouth while laughing, were eagerly copied by generations of female fans, leaving an impact that far out spans her modest oeuvre.

Interestingly, of her 33 odd films in just over a decade-with top heroes from Dev Anand to Dharmendra and Rajesh Khanna all, save a few at the very end, struck gold.