Sulakshana Pandit is an Indian playback singer and former film actress working in Bollywood. She belongs to the

Mewati Gharana The Mewati gharana is a musical apprenticeship tribe of Hindustani classical music. Known for being Pandit Jasraj's musical lineage, the gharana was founded by brothers Ghagge Nazir Khan and Wahid Khan (beenkar) of Indore in the late 19th c ...

Career

Sulakshana's career as an actress spanned the 1970s and early '80s. As a leading lady she has worked with most of the top actors of the 1970s like Jeetendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Shashi Kapoor and Shatrughan Sinha. 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. Her other popular films include '' Hera Pheri'', '' Apnapan'', '' Khandaan'', '' Chehre Pe Chehra'', '' Dharam Kanta'' and '' Waqt Ki Deewar''. She acted in a Bengali movie '' Bandie'' 1978, where she was paired opposite Uttam Kumar. Sulakshana had a singing career alongside her acting one. She began her singing career as a child singer singing the popular song "Saat Samundar Paar se" with Lata Mangeshkar in the 1967 film '' Taqdeer''. Thereafter, she recorded with famed musicians such as

Kishore Kumar Kishore Kumar (born Abhas Kumar Ganguly; ; 4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987) was an Indian playback singer, musician and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest, most influential and dynamic singers in the history of modern India ...

and Hemant Kumar. She sang in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Oriya and Gujarati. In 1980, she released an album titled ''Jazbaat'' (HMV), wherein she rendered

ghazal ''Ghazal'' is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry that often deals with topics of spiritual and romantic love. It may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss, or separation from the beloved, and t ...

s. She sang duets with accomplished singers such as

, Lata Mangeshkar,

Mohammed Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and range of voice ...

, Shailender Singh, Yesudas, Mahendra Kapoor and

Udit Narayan Udit Narayan Jha (born 1 December 1955) is an Nepali and Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured mainly in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. He has also sung in various other languages including Telugu language, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil ...

. She sang under music directors such as Shankar Jaikishan, Laxmikant Pyarelal, Kalyanji Anandji, Kanu Roy, Bappi Lahiri, Usha Khanna, Rajesh Roshan, Khayyam, Rajkamal and several others. In 1986, Sulakshana was one of the singers to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London to celebrate the "Festival of Indian Music" Concert along with acclaimed Music Directors Laxmikant Pyarelal and singers Manhar, Shabbir Kumar, Nitin Mukesh and Anuradha Paudwal. Her voice was last heard in an alaap in the song "Saagar Kinare Bhi Do Dil" from the movie ''Khamoshi the musical'' (1996), which was composed by her brothers Jatin and Lalit.

Personal life

Sulakshana comes from a musical family originating from Pilimandori Village in Hissar (now Fatehabad) district of

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

state. The famous classical vocalist and legendary Pandit Jasraj was her uncle. Ex Rajgarh MP & Jan Sangh leader Vasant Kumar Pandit was also her uncle. She started singing at the age of nine. Her elder brother Mandheer Pandit (who was earlier a music composer in the 1980s with Jatin Pandit as the duo Mandheer–Jatin) was her constant companion in Mumbai; they performed and sang on stage until Sulakshana became a leading playback singer through many of their live concerts with legends such as

and

. She has three brothers (Mandheer, Jatin and Lalit Pandit) and three sisters (Late Maya Anderson, Late Sandhya Singh and Vijayta Pandit). Her father Pratap Narain Pandit was an accomplished classical vocalist. Her nephew Yash Pandit is an Indian television actor. Nieces Shraddha Pandit and Shweta Pandit are playback singers. Her cousin is playback singer Hemlata. Sulakshana has never been married, after actor Sanjeev Kumar turned down her marriage proposal. She fell on hard times after she stopped getting work. Her sister Vijayta Pandit and brother-in-law, music composer Aadesh Shrivastava, had plans to compose a devotional album for her, but Aadesh died before he could.Quality Matters (Archived link)
/ref> She broke her hip bone when she fell in the bathroom. Sulakshana makes rare public appearances after her four surgeries that left her impaired. She has given a full length radio interview wherein she spoke about her acting & singing career to RJ Vijay Akela in July 2017.

Filmography

As singer

As actress

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

References

External links

*
Whatever happened to... Sulakshana Pandit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pandit, Sulakshana Bollywood playback singers Indian film actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Indian women playback singers 20th-century Indian singers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Indian actresses 20th-century Indian women singers People from Raigarh People from Raigarh district People from Chhattisgarh Women musicians from Chhattisgarh Singers from Chhattisgarh Actresses from Chhattisgarh Filmfare Awards winners