Sulakshana Pandit Female Playback Singer of India

Sulakshana Pandit is a Filmfare Award winning Playback Singer & Actor.Her brothers are the composing duo Jatin Lalit and her younger sister is Vijeta Pandit who achieved fame with her debut movie Love Story.Her uncle is the accomplished classical vocalist Pandit Jasraj.

Sulakshana Pandit
Birth name	Sulakshana Pratap Narain Pandit
Also known as	Sulakshna Pandit
Born	9 July 1953
Genres	Playback singing, Performing Artist
Occupations	Singer, Actor
Years active	Singing: 1967-1996 Acting:1975-1987

Career

Sulakshana's career as heroine spanned in '70s and early '80s. As a leading lady she worked with Jeetendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Raj Babbar and Rakesh Roshan. . Her acting career began with the suspense thriller Uljhan in 1975 opposite Sanjeev Kumar.

In Anil Ganguly's Sankoch (1976) which was based on the novel Parineeta she portrayed Lolita.Some of her popular hit films are Uljhan, Hera Pheri, Apnapan, Sankoch, Khandaan, Raaz, Thief of Baghdad, Chehre Pe Chehra, Dharam Kanta and Waqt Ki Deewar.

She also acted in a Bengali movie Bondie where she was paired opposite Uttam Kumar.

Sulakshana had a singing career along side her acting career.She began her singing career as a child singer singing the popular song "Saat Samundar Paar se" along with Lata Mangeshkar in the 1967 film Taqdeer.Thereafter she recorded with famed Musicians like Hemant Kumar & Kishore Kumar. She sang in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Oriya & Gujarathi. Some of her popular songs are:

* Beqarar e dil tu gaaye ja - Door Ka Raahi (1971)

* Sapnon ka raja - Chalte Chalte (1975)

* Aaj Pyare Pyare Se Lagte - Uljhan (1975)

* Bandhi re kahe preet - Sankoch (1976)

* Somwar ko hum mile - Apnapan (1977)

* Boliye surili boliyaan - Griha Pravesh (1979)

* Mausam lovely mausam - Thodisi Bewafaai (1980)

* Khaali Pyala Chhalka - Sparsh (1980)

* Mana teri nazar - Ahista Ahista (1981)

* Jiske Liye Sab ko Chhoda - Saajan Ki Saheli (1981)

In 1980 she released an album titled "Jazbaat"(courtesy HMV) wherein she rendered Ghazals.

She sang duets with accomplished singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Mohd. Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Shailender Singh,Yesudas,Mahendra Kapoor and Udit Narayan. She sang under the music direction of Music Directors like Shankar Jaikishan, Laxmikant Pyarelal, Kalyanji Anandji, Kanu Roy, Bappi Lahiri, Usha Khanna, Rajesh Roshan, Khayyam, Rajkamal & several others.

[edit] Awards

* Filmfare Best Female Playback Award in 1975 for the song "Tu hi saagar hai tu hi kinara" in Sankalp (1975).

* Miyan Tansen Award in 1975 for the song "Tu hi Saagar hai tu hi kinara" in Sankalp (1975)

* Nominated as Filmfare Best Female Playback Award for rendering the classical "Bandhi re Kahe Preet" in Sankoch (1976)

Personal life

She comes from a musical family originating from Pili Mandori Village in Hissar district of Haryana state. She is related to Pandit Jasraj who is her uncle. She started singing at the age of 9 as a child and her elder brother Mandheer Pandit (who was earlier a music composer in the 80's with Jatin Pandit, better known as Mandheer - Jatin) was her only constant companion in the city of Mumbai and they both performed and sang on stage till Sulakshana became a leading Playback Singer through many of their Live Concerts with Legends like Kishore Kumar and Mohammad Rafi.

She has 3 brothers (Mandheer, Jatin Pandit & Lalit Pandit) & 3 sisters (Maya,Sandhya & Vijeta Pandit).Her father Pratap Narayan Pandit was an accomplished Classical Vocalist.Her nephew Yash Pandit is an Indian Television Actor & nieces Shrraddha Pandit & Shweta Pandit are playback singers.

Sulakshana has never been married. Actor Sanjeev Kumar turned down her marriage proposal, because he never got over his heartbreak after actress Hema Malini rejected him to marry her frequent co-star Dharmendra. She also fell on hard times when she stopped getting work. She was living in an apartment with no furniture and that required serious repairs. She was forced to put it up for sale, and it remained on the market for several months, until finally her former leading man Jeetendra came to her rescue by convincing his brother-in-law to purchase the flat. From the proceeds of the sale, she was able to pay off her debts and purchase three apartments. Her sister Vijeta Pandit and brother-in-law, music composer Aadesh Shrivastava took care of her, but her health has deteriorated and she has been hospitalized on several occasions. Aadesh has indicated that he was composing a devotional album for Sulakshana but her health is a serious issue that they haven't been able to look into and don't let her other family members intervene in the same. She is currently 57 years old.