Shashikala Birth Anniversary: 5 Memorable Performances of the Iconic Actress

Veteran actress and Padma Shri recipient Shashikala Saigal, or Shashikala, passed away in April this year, but left behind an enduring legacy of iconic performances. Known for portraying critically acclaimed negative characters, she has appeared in many successful films like Jhankaar Beats and TV shows like Son Pari. On her 89th birth anniversary, we take a look at five films she appeared in.

Sujata (1959)

Filmmaker Bimal Roy’s progressive drama about Sujata (Nutan), an orphaned, lower caste, adopted into an upper-caste family, was nominated for a Palme d’Or and received a National Film Award in India. Shashikala, who played Rama, Sujata’s step-sister, received a Filmfare Awards nomination for her performance in the film.

Junglee (1961)

In this iconic Subodh Mukherjee film, Shashikala plays Mala, the carefree younger sister of Shekhar (Shammi Kapoor). Mala rebels against her aristocratic family by falling in love with a commoner (Anoop Kumar) and sets the stage for Shekhar to choose a woman (Saira Banu) from a humble family later.

Aarti (1962)

A hard-working doctor Aarti (Mala Sinha) marries a man named Deepak (Pradeep Kumar), who saves her life, only to be tormented by her former fiancé, Dr Prakash (Ashok Kumar). Shashikala plays Jaswanti, the sister-in-law of Aarti, who is spiteful towards the latter and causes her much distress. She won her first Filmfare award trophy for this film and the Bengal Film Journalists’ Association (BFJA) award.

Gumrah (1963)

Meena (Mala Sinha) is in love with Rajendra (Sunil Dutt) but marries Ashok (Ashok Kumar) after his wife and her sister, Kamla (Nirupa Roy), dies in an accident, leaving her children behind. Shashikala plays Leela, a woman who blackmails Meena (Mala) by pretending to be the wife of the latter’s lover, Rajendra (Sunil Dutt). Shashikala once again won a Filmfare and a BFJA award for her performance.

Rahgir (1969)

Shashikala won her third BFJA award for this Tarun Majumdar drama. The film deals with a man (Biswajit Chatterjee) from an affluent family who gives in to his wanderlust and leaves his familiar world behind.

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