Sadhana (2 September 1941 – 25 December 2015) belonged to an era when Hindi cinema was transitioning from the slow ’50s to the more playful, romantic ’60s. Her first film as a heroine was Love In Shimla, released in 1960 which was a hit. She became a rage and her hairstyle became instantly popular with the girls. Her fringe haircut named "Sadhana Cut"
Sadhana is also credited for bringing into fashion tight churidar-kurta. She went with this concept of gracefully changing the traditional loose salwar kameez to her director Yash Chopra for 1965's film Waqt. Initially, Yash Chopra was not agreed for this change but Sadhana with the help of her fashion designer Bhanu Athaiya showed him a sample, which he liked. The trend lasted well in the 1970s and can be seen to be adopted by many actresses.
After Love In Shimla, her 2nd film Parakh was released. in this film she played the simple village girl, she had to stick her fringe back in order to match the simple village girl she played here. Even without that, she looked beautiful. Then came Hum Dono in 1962 The film stars Dev Anand in a double role and also has Nanda his co-heroine.The film was a big hit that established Sadhana as a leading actress. In the same year, Ek Musafir Ek Hasina and Asli Naqli were released, both were successful.at the Box Office.
In 1963, Sadhana played her first role in a technicolor film Mere Mehboob directed by H. S. Rawail. The film was the "blockbuster" of 1963.She now became the most sought-after heroine of Bollywood.
In 1964, she played a double role in the first of the suspense-thriller trilogy, Woh Kaun Thi? This white-sari-clad performance opposite Manoj Kumar earned her first Filmfare nomination as Best Actress. The film was a box office "Hit". Raj Khosla cast her in two more successful mystery films, Mera Saaya (1966) and Anita (1967) thus making her famous as the "Mystery girl". Mera Saaya, a box office "Super Hit".
Since then every year she was giving a hit throughout the 60s, In 1963; it was Rajkumar opposite Shammi Kapoor, Waqt, and Arzoo in 1965, Mera Saya in 66, Anita in 67 and Inteqam and Ek Phool Do Mali in 1969.
Sadhana had health issues due to her thyroid, which she got treated in Boston. She was doing limited films, earlier also she did 2 or 3 films in a year, most of her films were hit.In 1971 she had a hit Aap Aye Bahar Ayee, in 74 she acted and directed Geeta Mera Naam which was also a hit.
After her retirement from acting, she refused to be photographed, She suffered from eye problems due to hyperthyroidism. She had undergone an emergency surgery due to a bleeding oral lesion in December 2014 at the K J Somaiya Medical College.
Sadhana died on 25 December 2015 in Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai after being hospitalized with a high fever. She made a rare public appearance walking the ramp in a pink sari at a fashion show to support the cause for cancer and AIDS patients. She was escorted by her relative, actor Ranbir Kapoor in 2014
