SIMI GAREWAL- Way Ahead Of Her Time, Excelled in Supportive Roles

 

 Simi has always been ahead of her times. In an era where actresses even refused to kiss, Simi never hesitated from flaunting her svelte figure if the role demanded that. Recall her nude scene in the film Sidhartha which caused some controversy in India.  Her immaculate dressing sense was an inspiration for many

She was excellent in supportive roles, she was one of the heroines of Dev Anand in Teen Deviyan. She played the third angle in Raj Khosla's love story Do Badan (1966) She played a spoilt rich girl in Saathi(1968) who sets her eyes on Rajendra Kumar and marries him -- though he remains faithful to his first love Vyjayanthimala. She was awarded as Best Supportive Actress for both the films.

She was born (17th Oct 1947)in Muktsar, Punjab, India, in a Jat Sikh family. Her father, J. S. Garewal served in the Indian Army rising to the rank of Brigadier. After spending much of her childhood in England, Garewal returned to India while a teenager. Her felicity with the English language induced the makers of the English-language film Tarzan Goes to India to offer her a role. A gangly 15-year-old, Garewal made her debut alongside Feroz Khan in Raaz Ki Baat in 1962

During the 1960s and '70s, she was in several notable Indian films, working with leading directors such as Mehboob Khan's Son of India,  Satyajit Ray cast her in his Bengali film Aranyer Din Ratri (1969), Raj Kapoor in Mera Naam Joker (1970)., She was in a supportive role in Ramesh Sippy's Andaz (1971), In Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Namak Haram (1973), she was the rich but eternally sympathetic voice of sanity who tries to curb Amitabh Bachchan's anger. In Prakash Mehra's Haath Ki Safai (1974), she just threw her long hair around in the hit number, Waada Kar le Saajna.   

By the mid-1970s, Simi's career seemed to have run out of steam. Films like Chalte Chalte, which cast her as an older woman opposite newcomer Vishal Anand did not make waves despite the melodious music; while a blockbuster like Kabhi Kabhie had her in a peripheral role (as Neetu Singh's foster mother). Another notable role she played was as a vamp in Karz (1980). 

 In the early 1980s, her attention turned to writing and direction. She formed her own production company, Siga Arts International. She hosted, produced and directed a TV series for Doordarshan called It's a Woman's World (1983). She also made a documentary for Channel 4 in the UK called Living Legend Raj Kapoor (1984). This was followed by a three-part documentary on Rajiv Gandhi titled India's Rajiv.

In the late 90s, she anchored a talk show in Television   Rendezvous with Simi Garewal which became very popular with the elite class.

Song of Teen Deviyan 1965

Song of Johar Mehmood in Goa 1966

Song of  Do Badan 1966

Song of  Saathi 1968

Song of Mera Naam Joker 1970

Song of Haath Ki Safai 1974

Song of Chalte Chalte 1976

Song of Karz 1980

The Dream Girl Turns 72

 

Born on 16th Oct1948 to a Tamil-speaking Iyengar family, Hema Malini did her early education in Chennai. Her father was later posted in Delhi, where she attended school at the Delhi Tamil Education Association Senior School (DTEA) on Mandir Marg. After Class 11, she quit commencing her acting career.

She made her debut in Hindi films with Sapno Ka Saudagar(1968). She made her mark next in Dev Anand’s Johnny Mera Naam (1970). After that, there was no stopping Hema. In 1971 her next hit film was Andaz and with the release of Sita Aur Geeta(1972), she was among the top 3 heroines of Bollywood.

She went on to star in a number of hit films -- Sholay (1975), Trishul (1978), Meera (1979), Naseeb (1981), and Satte Pe Satta (1982) to name a few. She emerged as the highest-paid female actor of her time (1976 - 1980).

She made a hit pairing with Dharmendra in the seventies,  acted together in 28 films including Sharafat, Tum Haseen Main Jawan, Naya Zamana, Raja Jani, Seeta Aur Geeta, Patthar Aur Payal, Dost (1974), Sholay (1975), Charas, Jugnu, Azaad (1978) and Dillagi (1978).

In 1980, she married Dharmendra, she continued to give hit movies even after her marriage. In the 80s Malini continued to star in big-budget films like Kranti, Naseeb, Satte Pe Satta and Rajput, most of which proved successful at the box-office. She continued to work in heroine-centric roles after becoming a mother, in films like Aandhi Toofan, Durgaa, Ramkali, Sitapur Ki Geeta, Ek Chadar Maili Si, Rihaee, and Jamai Raja. 

In the 1990s, she produced and directed the 1992 film Dil Aashna Hai, starring Divya Bharti and Shah Rukh Khan in the leading roles. She also produced and directed her second feature film Mohini (1995), starring her niece Madhoo, both the films flopped. She then focused on dancing and television work.

After taking a break from films for a number of years, Malini made a comeback with Baghban (2003),^[29] for which she earned a Filmfare Best Actress Award nomination. She also made guest appearances in the 2004 film Veer-Zaara and the 2007 film Laaga Chunari Mein Daag. 

 From 2003 to 2009, she served as an MP to the upper house – the Rajya Sabha, having been nominated by the then President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. In February 2004, Malini officially joined the BJP.In March 2010, Malini was made general secretary of the BJP, and in February 2011, she was recommended by Ananth Kumar, the party general secretary. In the 2014 general elections for the Lok Sabha, Malini defeated the Mathura incumbent, Jayant Chaudhary (RLD) She once again won the Lok Sabha election in 2019. She is very active in Politics.

Song of Sapno Ka Saudagar 1968

Song of Johny Mera Naam 1970

Song of Seeta Aur Geeta 1972

Song of Jugnu 1973

Song of Dulhan 1974

Song of Prem Nagar 1974

Song of Sholay 1975

Song of Mehbooba 1976

Song of Dream Girl 1977

Song of Trishul 1978

Song of Meera 1979

Song of Kranti 1981

Song of Satte Pe Satta 1982

Song of Razia Sultan 1983

Asha Parekh- The Heroine with Hit Films & Hit Songs

 

Asha Parekh was one of the most successful heroines of the 60s. Every year she gave a big hit Her films were essentially cheerful, lighthearted entertainers These may not count as classics but may be remembered for their songs.

She made her debut in Nasir Hussain's Dil Deke Dekho in 1959, she was a teenager then. She was soon cast opposite Dev Anand (Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai), Rajendra Kumar (Gharana), and Joy Mukherji (Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon). She soon started giving one hit after another. some of these films were Gharana (1961), Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Bharosa (1963) , Ziddi (1964), Mere Sanam (1965), The year 1966 was  a great year for her, this year four of her filmsTeesri Manzil (1966), Love in Tokyo (1966), Do Badan (1966) , Aaye Din Bahar Ke (1966), became hit. Upkar (1967) , Shikar (1968), Kanyadaan (1968), Mahal (1969), Aan Milo Sajna (1970), Kati Patang (1971), Caravan (1971), and Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971)

She got her first Filmfare award for Kati Patang and was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India for her contribution to the field of cinema. She took on supporting roles as bhabhi (sister-in-law) and mother, but she called this the "awkward phase" of her career. So she stopped acting in films, and her friends recommended that she become a television director. She took their advice and became a television director in the early 1990s with the Gujarati serial Jyoti. She formed a production company, Akruti, and produced serials like Palash ke Phool, Baaje Payal, Kora Kagaz and a comedy, Dal Mein Kaala. She was the president of the Cine Artistes' Association from 1994 to 2000. Parekh was the first female chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (Censor Board) of India.

She was born on 2nd Oct 1942 and has remained unmarried. Today, Parekh concentrates on her dance academy Kara Bhavan and the Asha Parekh Hospital in Santa Cruz, Mumbai, named in her honour because of her many humanitarian contributions.

Asha Parekh's Hit Songs

Song of  Dil Deke  Dekho 1959

Song of Ghunghat (1960)

Song of Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai (1961)

Song of Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963)

Song of Bharosa (1963) 

Song of Ziddi (1964)

Song of Mere Sanam(1964)

Song of Teesri Manzil (1966)

Song of Love In Tokyo(1966)

Song of Baharon Ke Sapne (1967)

Song of Shikar (1968)

Song of Aya Sawan Jhoom Ke (1969)

Song of Aan Milo Sajna (1970) 

Song of Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971)

Song of Caravan (1971)

Tanuja- She Regrets Refusing Hare Rama Hare Krishna

 

Hamari Yaad Aayegi(1961) was Tanuja's debut heroine-centric film as an adult. The film gave her recognition as a "spontaneous actor". However, the film did not do well at the box-office She appeared in a few insignificant films after that. She was the heroine of Mehmood in the 1965 film 'Bhoot Bangla'.One of her early films noted for her acting was Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi (1966), It was Guru Dutt, who spotted a hidden talent on her and took her for this film. 

It was Jewel Thief (1967),that made her popular with the song 'Raat Akeli Hai' and 'Yeh Dil Na Hota Bechara' opposite Dev Anand. She got many offers of 2nd heroine in films after that. Her next big film was with Jeetendra; Jeene Ki Raah (1969), an immediate and surprise hit. In the same year, Tanuja won the Best Supporting Actress at Filmfare for Paisa Ya Pyar. After the success of Haathi Mere Saathi (1971), she acted in Door Ka Raahi, Mere Jeevan Saathi, Do Chor and Ek Baar Mooskura Do (1972), Kaam Chor, Yaarana, Khuddar, and Masoom. Some of the other films she has acted in are Pavitra Paapi,and Anubhav. 

In an interview Tanuha informed that when Dev Anand was starting Hare Rama Hare Krishna, he offered her the role if Jenice to her but I refused because it was a sister’s role. Of course, I regretted it later but I loved watching Zeenat do the role anyway..

Song of Mem Didi 1961

Song of Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi 1966

Song of Jewel Thief 1967

Song of Jeene Ki Rah 1969

Song of Haathi Mera Saathi 1971

Song of Anubhav 1971

Song of Do Chor 1972

Noorjahan- Inspiration for generations of singers

Noorjehan was the first female singing superstar of Indian cinema and helped laid the foundation for playback singing as we know it. She also inspired a generation of singers including Lata Mangeshkar before single-handedly kick-starting music in Pakistan. Her ability to enunciate with crystalline clarity and her skill in evoking the right emotion, especially in her sad songs, is what made her singing so popular.
She was India's most famous singer and actor before Independence. She had become a household name with such movies as Khandaan (1942), Naukar(1943), Dost (1944), Zeenat (1945), Village Girl (1945), Badi Ma(1945), Anmol Ghadi (1946) and Jugnu (1947).

In 1947, she decided to move to Pakistan along her husband Shaukat Hussain Rizvi. She left Bombay and settled in Karachi Pakistan. Three years after settling in Pakistan, she starred in her first Pakistani film Chan Wey (1951), opposite Santosh Kumar, which was also her first Pakistani film as a heroine and playback singer. Shaukat Hussain Rizvi and Noor Jehan directed this film together, making Jehan Pakistan's first female director. Jehan's second film in Pakistan was Dopatta (1952) which was Produced by Aslam Lodhi, Directed by Sibtain Fazli and assisted by A. H. Rana as Production Manager. Dopatta turned out to be an even bigger success than Chan Wey (1951).

She had problems in her marriage and got divorced due to personal differences. She kept custody of the three children from their marriage. In 1959, she married another film actor, Ejaz Durrani, nine years her junior.
After her second marriage, she didn't work in many films. Her husband pressured her to give up acting, and her last film as a lead role was Mirza Ghalib (1961). She last acted in Baaji in 1963, though not in a leading role. She continued singing after that. She sang a large number of duets with Ahmed Rushdi, Mehdi Hassan, Masood Rana, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mujeeb Aalam.
She visited India in 1982 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Indian talkie movies, where she met Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in New Delhi and was received by Dilip Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar in Bombay. She met all her erstwhile heroes and costars, including Surendra, Pran, Suraiya, composer Naushad and others. 
After 1986 she was not keeping well so she stopped singing assignments. In 2000, Jehan was hospitalised in Karachi and suffered a heart attack. On 23 December 2000. Jehan died as a result of heart failure. Her funeral took place at Jamia Masjid Sultan, Karachi and was attended by over 400,000 people. She was buried at the Gizri Graveyard in Karachi.
She received more than 15 Nigar Awards for Best Female Playback Singer, eight for best Urdu Singer Female and the rest for Punjabi playback. She has also been given the award for the Singer Of Millennium.

Song of Khandan 1942

Song of Anmol Ghadi (1946) 

Song of Anmol Ghadi (1946) 

Song of Anmol Ghadi (1946) 

Song of Jugnu (1947)

Kalpna Kartik- The Lady who brought out Dev Anand from Depression

 

Mona Singh is the real name of Kalpna Kartik. She was introduced to Bollywood by Chetan Anand who spotted her in a Beauty Contest in 1950. She became Miss Shimla in that contest. Chetan Anand persuaded her family to cast her in Baazi (1951) opposite Dev Anand.She appeared in 6 films that too with Dev Anand. She married Dev Anand during the shooting of Taxi Driver in 1954

.We all know that Dev Anand was in love with Suraiya, both wanted to marry but their relationship came to an end. After that, he was heartbroken. It was Kalpna Kartik who brought out Dev Anand from the morass of grief he was feeling.

 It is said Dev Anand was enamored by her during the making of Baazi itself. They did Aandhiyan (1952) and Humsafar(1953) He didn’t want to take any chances this time and decided to marry her as soon as she said yes. It was during a lunch break of Shooting Taxi Driver Dev Anand and Kalpna Kartik married secretly. Trust Dev Anand to do something different. Dev Anand in an interview to Simmi said that both had planned that they'll get married and will not tell anybody and then they'll throw a reception." 

The sorrows and wounds of Dev Anand were finally healed, and he finally found his true soul-mate. Dev Anand and Kalpana were blessed with a son, Suneil Anand, in 1956 in Zurich, where they were attending a film festival. They later had a daughter too, Devina Anand, thus completing their picture-perfect family.

After the marriage, she appeared with Dev Anand in only two films House No 44(1955) and Nau Do Gyarah(1956), many offers came to her opposite Dev but she declined wanted to raise her children.

She became an associate producer with Tere Ghar Ke Samne(1963) and later produced Jewel Thief. Prem Pujari., Shareef Budmaash (1973), Heera Panna (1973), and Jaaneman (1976).  She is a private person and always remained away from film parties. So there were rumors that she is separated from Dev Anand but that was not true. Dev Anand and Kalpana Kartik remained espoused till his death in the year 2011.

Songs of Kalpna Kartik

Song of Baazi 1951

Song of Aandhiyan 1952

Song of Taxi Driver 1954

Song of House No 44 1955

Song of Nau Do Gyarah 1957

Song of Nau Do Gyarah 1957

Sadhana - The Story of Famous "Sadhana Cut'

 . 

No doubt she was a Style icon of the 60s. Her hairstyle and her dresses were copied by the girls. There was a time when mothers taking their little girls to the hairdresser for a ‘Sadhana cut'. She created a fashion of the fusion churidar-Kurtis and Mojris she wore in Waqt(1965). In an interview, Sadhana told about her famous Sadhana Cut Hairstyle.

She narrated how she got the famous ‘Sadhana fringe’. “I had a broad forehead, which showed prominently in photo tests. It would then be covered with a patch of hair. When we were about to start Love In Simla, the director RK Nayyar said the patch wouldn’t do. Those days Audrey Hepburn’s Roman Holiday (in which she sports a fringe) had just released. So I was promptly rushed off to a Chinese hairdresser and given a fringe.

Regarding her Churidar Kurtas, she told that she wore those conventional Kurtas in the 1963 film Mere Mehboob which were liked by the girls but she now wanted some changes in her wardrobe. She asked Bhanu Athaiya, the Oscar-winning costume designer to create a fusion of the traditional churidar and modern Kurti for my personal wardrobe. One day Yashji (Chopra) happened to come home to discuss my costumes in Waqt when I walked in wearing a sleeveless, gold-embroidered Kurti, churidar, and Mojris and a chic hairstyle, he went, ‘Wow! What you’re wearing is exactly what I want for my film.’ “The style went on to become a craze.”

Sadhana (2 September 1941– 25 December 2015) started her career with a Sindhi film titled

 Abaana (1958) playing the sister's role of the heroine. Very few know that In 1955 she got her first little break. She played a chorus girl in the song "Mud mud ke na dekh... mud mud ke" in Raj Kapoor's Shree 420. She got her first Hindi film Love In Simla released in 1960 but she played a simple girl in her next film Parakh of Bimal Roy. Recall the popular song of this film 'O Sajna Barkha Bahar Aayi'. 

In 1961's other hit, Hum Dono released, she played the love interest of Dev Anand.  The song 'Abhi Na Jao Chhod Kar' remains the most romantic song to date. In 1962, she was again paired with Dev Anand in Asli-Naqli by director Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The same year saw director-screenwriter Raj Khosla cast her opposite Joy in Ek Musafir Ek Hasina. Khosla would again work with Sadhana to make a suspense thriller trilogy  Woh Kaun Thi 1964,  Mera Saaya (1966) and Anita (1967) thus making her famous as the "Mystery Girl". Sadhana was the highest-paid actress of her time. During a career spanning over two decades, Sadhana starred in over 30 films.   

Sadhana got married to R K Nayyar, the director of her first film in 1966. After marriage, Sadhana worked sporadically and went on to do Ek Phool Do Mali, Intaqam , and Geeta Mera Naam (she even directed it). She quit after Geeta Mera Naam. she was not keeping good health (she was suffering from a thyroid disorder). She was diagnosed with cancer in her old age that led her to her death on 25 December 2015. 

Many classic songs were picturized on her, here are a few

Song of Parakh 1960

Song of Hum Dono 1961

Song of Asli Naqli 1962

Song of Mere Mehboob1963

Song of Woh Kaun Thi 1964

Song of Rajkumar 1964

Song of Aarzoo1965

Song of Mera Saya 1966

Song of Inteqam 1969