Biography
Sulakshana Pandit had a successful singing career Sulakshana Pandit made her debut in Hindi cinema as a singer opposite none other than her idol Lata Mangeshkar with the song Saat samundar paar ke, gudiyo ke baazaar se, achhi si gudiya laana gudiya chaahe na laana pappa jaldi aa jaana… The film was Taqdeer (1967). She was just 13 year old. Music director Usha Mangeshkar gave her break. She sung for a little girl. After this she sung the hit song Beqarar-e-dil Tu Gaaye Ja….With Kishore Kumar in his film Door Ka Raahi (1971). After this she never looked back and sung with all top singers like Muhammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Shailender Singh, Yesudas, Mahendra Kapoor and Udit Narayan. She worked with celebrated film music directors like Shankar Jaikishan, Laxmikant Pyarelal, Kalyanji Anandji, Kanu Roy, Bappi Lahiri, Usha Khanna, Rajesh Roshan, Khayyam, Rajkamal etc. She had the prestige of singing at Royal Albert Hall in London in 1986 with young breed of singers like Manhar, Shabbir Kumar, Nitin Mukesh and Anuradha Paudwal under famous Music Directors Laxmikant Pyarelal and singers Some of her hit songs are Mana Teri Nazar... ; Somwar Ko Hum Mile........; Ghadi milan ki aayi......; Jab aati hogi yaad meri....... ; Jana Kaha Hai ….. ; Beqarar Dil Tu Gaaye Ja…….. Mausam Mausam Lovely Mausam.. etc. Singer Kishore Kumar motivated Sulakshana Pandit to become actress Sulakshana Pandit had sung many songs with Kishore Kumar in films and did many shows on stage. They had a great chemistry. Once Kishore Kumar suggested her to try acting as she was blessed by good voice as well as gorgeous looks. But she declined many film offers. However when she was approached by legendary filmmaker Ramesh Saigal for an important role in his film Sankalp (1975) she gave her nod. It was an authored back role of child widow, which Sulakshana Pandit played with such conviction that she won many awards including Bengal Critics’ Award. The film was hit and open doors of Bolllywood for her. Sulakshana Pandit worked with top stars Sulakshana Pandit’s next film was Uljhan opposite Sanjeev Kumar which was again hit and the most popular film of her career was Prakash Mehra’s super hit film Hera Pheri opposite dashing Vinod Khanna. Later she did many films with top heroes like Apnapan (Jeetendra), Bundal Baaz (Rajesh Khanna), Phaansi (Shashi Kapoor), Do Waqt Ki Roti (Feroz Khan), Thief of Baghdad (Shatrughan Sinha), Raaj Kumar (Dharam Kanta) etc.
Career & Achievements
Sulakshana Pandit created sensation with her song in Sankalp Sulakshana Pandit began her career as singer at the age of 9 and only wished to be a singer but filmmakers were obsessed by her stunning beauty hence she was compelled to films. Her first film as actress was Sankalp made by Ramesh Saigal, who introduced many top stars like Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt etc. Hence she gave her nod but with the condition she will also sing her songs. Ramesh Saigal agreed. In this film she not only stunned film industry by her acting but also proved her genius in singing. The song Tu Hi Saagar Hai Tu Hi Kinara… from the film was super hit and fetched her first Filmfare Best Female Playback Award in 1975. What’s more she also won the prestigious classical singer Miyan Tansen Award in 1975 for the same song.
