By: Goher Iqbal Punn

She reigned amidst glory and fame. She is Asha Parekh, the dancing queen of the sixties. Today she also enjoys the same but this time on small screen. She entered filmdom at that time when the great talented actresses like Sadhna, Nutan and Waheeda Rehman were ruling over the screen. Asha took the challenge and made her presence felt amongst them.

A chiry girl from a middle class family, Asha enjoyed her childhood days. Her father was a Gujarati and her mother, a Muslim. Being the only child of her parents, Asha Parekh led her early days of life in much comfort. Her father ran a hardware store at C P Tank. Asha got educated at the J B Petit School.

Asha Parekh had been a tomboy. The obvious reason behind the curtain was of-course her male friends, as she liked the company of the opposite sex. Since all of her friends were boys, she used to play marbles and fly kites all day with them. Her love for dance took birth at in childhood itself. Asha made her stage debut at a local hall in Santa Cruz. Balraj Sahni, the good-headed actor of yesteryear, and her mother did Asha's make-up. Balraj too performed on the same stage at that show.

Dancing has been her first love and she continued this love journey till very late in life. The year 1990 brought her some bad health and she had to quit performing.

Way back in her childhood days, once Asha was giving a dance performance on stage. The veteran director, Bimol Roy (who was very much famous for introducing new faces in entertainment industry. Bimol also happened to be a mentor in direction of today's renowned poet-writer-director Gulzar, who is famous for making sensitive films.) was also present among the audience. Bimol was impressed by Asha's performance. He then went backstage and offered Asha a part to play in his next film as a child artist. Asha gave an affirmative response for his offer and she appeared in Bimol Roy's film, BAAP BETI (1954). After BAAP BETI, she continued this travel as a child star along with her stage performances and studies.

Asha was an average student in her studies but her mother wanted her to be a doctor by profession. Whereas Asha's thoughts were riding on continuing dance as a profession in life.

The renowned director of yesteryears, Vijay Bhatt offered Asha a leading role in his film, GUNJ UTHI SHEHNAI. Asha was barely sixteen years of age at that time. But later she was thrown out of the cast because the producer was of the view that she wasn't a star material. Asha was disappointed by the producers remark. But later she forgot it and went ahead with her first love dance and soon started touring the world along with her dance troupe.

The year 1959 brought her real success in terms of film offers. She was offered a film, DIL DEKE DEKHO as a heroine opposite romantic hero Shammi Kapoor. Sasadhar Mukherji's DIL DEKE DEKHO was a huge success of that time, giving a birth to the star of tomorrow (Asha Parekh). The film went on breaking all previous records and proved a marvelous success at the box office. After DIL DEKE DEKHO, there was no looking back for Asha and the offers started flowing in. And then the charming beauty, Asha did a number of musical flicks including JAB PYAR KISSIE SE HOTA HAI (1961), PHIR WOHI DIL LAYA HON (1963), ZIDDI (1964), MERE SANAM (1965) and TESRI MANZIL (1965) respectively. These films turned out to be blockbusters. But since they were comedies, Asha got an image of a glamorous star not of a serious actress. As far as Ash was concerned, she wanted to do sensitive and author-backed roles, which she bagged later in her career.

DO BADAN (1966) opposite Manoj Kumar dragged serious and sensitive roles for the actress and then there started a journey of meaningful movies with KANYADAN, CHIRAAG, PAGLA KAHIN KA, KATI PATANG and MAIN TULSI TERE AANGAN KI. Almost all of these films did a remarkable job at the box office and got critics' appreciation as well, excepting Raj Khosla's CHIRAAG opposite Sunil Dutt. The film did not raise the spirits of the audience and led her to disappointment. But later other hits cheered her up.

During the era of 60's, there emerged good lucks and successes for Asha and she became a huge star of high caliber. But Asha not only focussed on her acting career but also on doing other things simultaneously. Asha's success story was truly based on her determination and struggle. She was adamant to make her career strong and was focussed which was why, success knocked at her door.

Asha got involved in films distribution business along with acting and unfolded this career with the movie, BAHARON KE SAPNAY (A film by legendary writer-producer-director late Nasir Hussain) in 1967. She continued this journey of distribution business for almost 21 long years along with her long time friend and mentor late Nasir Hussain till she switched over to production line. Asha Parekh went ahead and also got herself involved with social works like charity, beginning with the Santa Cruz hospital, which was later renamed after her.

The year 1971 brought her bundles of happiness and proved a year of success for her because a number of films, which she acted in, hit the jackpot. KATI PATAG, AAN MILO SAJNA, MERA GAON MERA DESH and CARVAN did remarkably well at the box office. Filmfare Best Actress Award of the year for the film, KATI PATANG came her way. But it did not stop her going towards another direction, which was obviously called her first love, dance. She again opted dance at that time when she was enjoying the heights of her acting career and left for abroad to do a number of shows in 1972-1973. She just started focussing only on dance. In 1973, when Asha made her way back home, had only a few films left. She was supposed to do a big banner film of late Nasir Hussain titled YADOON KI BARAT as Nasir wanted her to do it but her long absence made Nasir sign a new sex symbol, Zeenat Aman (Dev Anand's discovery) for the project.

When Raj Khosla offered her MAIN TULSI TERE AANGAN KI, Asha's film career was almost over as a leading actress. Nevertheless she agreed to do it along with the renowned late actress Nutan. And as a result of it, the film burst as a huge success at the box office, bringing the Filmfare Best Actress Award for the year for Nutan. MAIN TULSE TERE AANGAN KI fetched a pause in acting for Asha and consequently she decided to spend time with her parents. Later she again embraced with acting and did many assignments.

Asha's love for acting still exists. Whenever she is offered a good character to play, she does it with utmost brilliance of her. Till date, Asha has given appearances in more than 100 movies. Asha also set up a dance academy, Kara Bhavan, where the students learn various dance forms and this academy has also produced a number of dancers of good brain to date. Asha also channels her energy into social works. She has also been the chairperson of the Film Censor Board and the president of the Cine Artistes' Association.

Asha Parekh has devoted herself fully to the world of entertainment. Her contributions deserve a salute. The fact still remains the same that she is the lady of remarkable brain.

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