The Kapoor connection no one knew about Bollywood’s “Mystery Girl”

Long before that, Sadhana also starred in Raj Kapoor’s 'Shree 420', as part of the chorus girl unit that starred her for a short amount of time. She got her first break to act in a Sindhi-language film and got paid only a rupee.

Her trademark fringe hairstyle was not only a fashion statement but a solution. A Hepburn-inspired fringe was proposed by director R.K. Nayyar to conceal her broad forehead, which became a national craze and is now known as the ‘Sadhana Cut’.

Sadhana was one of the first actresses to inject Western fashion into Indian cinema. Her fitted churidar-kurta look, which was adopted in ‘Waqt,’ raised the bar on fashion not seen before and was replicated by every other woman in the country.

Movies like ‘Woh Kaun Thi?’, ‘Mera Saaya’, and ‘Anita’, she got acquainted with suspense thrillers. Her murky character on screen resulted in earning her such title of “The Mystery Girl,” one that defined an actress of her time by almost any name. Sadhana suffered from hyperthyroidism, a condition that caused eye problems that eventually prompted her to retreat from being in public life.

She was Babita Kapoor’s paternal cousin; they were related through their fathers, Hari Shivdasani and Sadhana’s father. Sadhana consequently became the aunt of Babita's daughters, Karisma and Kareena Kapoor.