Asha Parekh

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Asha Parekh was born in a middle Class Gujarati Jain family in Mumbai. Her father was from Ahmedabad and her mother was a Dawoodi Bohra Muslim. Her upbringing was by both the parents worshipping Sai Baba. She learnt Indian Classical Dance form at an early age initiated by her mother and she learnt the dance from many teachers and one of the teacher was most prominent, Pandit Bansilal Bharati

Asha Parekh remained unmarried and there were rumours that she was romantically involved with her married director Nasir Hussain. Her later years, Asha Parekh is said to be close friends with Sushmita Sen and Aruna Irani.. She concentrates on her dance academy Kara Bhavan and looks after the Asha Parekh Hospital in SantaCruz named in her honour because of her contribution towards the humanitarian cause.

Asha Parekh is regarded as one of the finest actress of the Indian Cinema and one of the most successful actress of her times. She was honoured the Padma Shri by the Government of India and her career span was from the year 1959 to 1999. Her career began with her as a child artist under the name Baby Asha Parekh in the film Aasmaan in the year 1952 directed by Bimal Roy who saw her dance at the stage performance and cast her at the age of twelve in Baap Beti in 1954. The film failed and she continued to do a few more roles as a child artist and she later quit to continue her schooling. At the age of sixteen she again tried her hand at acting and did her debut role as a heroine for the film Goonj Uthi Shehnai in 1959 but she was rejected as the filmmaker didn’t see her as a potential star material. Eight days later Producer Subodh Mukherjee and writer director Nasir Hussain cast her as the heroine of their film Dil Deke Dekho in the same year opposite to Shammi Kapoor . The film was a huge success and she was a Star. The film also led her to have a long fruitful relationship with Nasir Hussain. He went on to cast her in a few more of his films and she went on to do six films for him namely Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota hai in 1961, Phir Wohi Dil Laya hoon in 1963, Teesri Manzil in 1966, Baharon ke Sapne in 1967, Pyar Ka Mausam in 1969 and Caravan in 1971. Besides films Nasir Hussain also got her involved in the distribution of films for 21 years. Starting with her film Baharon ke Sapne in 1967 . Asha Parekh was known as the glamour girl excellent for her dance talent as well as she was like a tomboy in most of her films until her film directed by Raj Khosla which gave her a serious role .What followed were her matured roles in Do Badan in 1966, Chirag in 1969 and Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki in 1979. Director Shakti Samanta gave her more films that required her to do dramatic roles and her two favourite films were Pagla Kahin Ka in 1970 and Kati Patang in the same year that earned her the Film Fare Best Actress Award. Then on many prominent directors cast her in several of their films including one by Vijay Anand, and Mohan Segal. Her two films were opposite to Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor. Some of her works were in the film Jawan Mohabbat in 1971 which were not successful films at the Box Office. She continued to pair opposite to the Kapoors and in 1969 she paired opposite to Dharmendra in Aaye Din Bahar Ke which was a popular and a hit film. She also acted in Mera Gaon Mera Desh in 1971 , Samadhi in 1972, Her films also included her starring opposite to Sunil Dutt in Hum Hindustani, and Chhaya in 1961, Heera in 973 and Zakhmee in 1975. in the 1970’s she paired opposite to the Superstar then Rajesh Khanna and did some successful films like Baharon ke Sapne, Kati Patang, Aan Milo Sajna, and Dharam Aur Kanoon. Asha Parekh has also acted in her mother tongue Gujarati films at the peak of her career in Hindi cinema. Her Gujarati films were also a hit She has done a few Punjabi films as well in 1971 opposite to Dharmendra for the film Kankan De Ohle and Lambhardarni in 1976 with Dara Singh and then a Kannada film Sharavegada. Saradara in 1989. Later in her career she rose from the leading lady to supporting roles as bhabi or a mother. And thereafter she stopped acting in films . Asha Parekh was a trend setter and also known as the Dancing queen of the Indian Cinema. She is very spiritual since her early life. It is said she came into the films due to her mother’s instance who saw potential in her daughter and suggested to her to try a stint in acting and from then she had only to look forward to in her glamorous career. Her mother is said to be her driving force and she did not give up despite initial hiccups in getting the right roles . She was a contemporary to many celebrities like Waheeda Rehman, Saira Banu, Mala Sinha. But she rolled out hits one after another with her co-stars like Joy Mukherjee for Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon , Love In Tokyo which became very popular for the title song that was with Biswajeet and she got the title role of Glamour Girl.