Birthday Wishes to the singer and star of the ’70s – Sulakshana Pandit

Born: 12 July 1948 (age 69 years), Mumbai

Sulakshana's career as heroine spanned the 1970s 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 acted in a Bangali movie, Bondie, 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 like Hemant Kumar and Kishore Kumar. She sang in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Oriya and Gujarati. In 1980 she released an album titled Jazbaat (HMV), wherein she rendered ghazals. She sang duets with accomplished singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Muhammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Shailender Singh, Yesudas, Mahendra Kapoor and Udit Narayan. She sang under music directors like 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.
Sulakshana comes from a musical family originating from Pilimandori Village in Hissar (now Fatehabad) district of Haryana state. The famous classical vocalist and legendary Pandit Jasraj is 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 like Kishore Kumar and Mohammad Rafi.
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.

“It was during the film Uljhan (1975) that I fell in love with Sanjeev Kumar. We had struck a wonderful rapport with each other. He was madly in love with Hemaji (Hema Malini), during those days. So, naturally, he would come to me with all his problems! I FELT TERRIBLE BUT I USED TO CONSOLE MYSELF, THINKING THIS WAS JUST A PHASE! Once he got out of it, I wanted to tell him how I felt about him. But I never did get the chance…. My co-artistes would tell me, `Sulakshana, you are what this man needs! You will change his life’.
Then I heard that Hemaji and Sanjeevji were to marry. It would have materialised, if Jeetuji had not proposed to Hemaji! It was a rather dramatic situation. Ul¬timately, it was Shobha Sippy who walked down the aisle with Jeetuji. Hema and Jeetu would have been married, had Shobha not staked her claim on her childhood sweetheart. She told Hemaji, ‘I have been with him since the age of 14. He belongs to me alone’.
Sanjeevji and I shared a lot in common. He was a Cancerian like me and also a very emotional person. Together, we worked in a lot of films — Waqt Ki Deewar, Chehre Pe Chehra, Uljhan, Apnapan…We acted in seven films. Sanjeevji was basically a lonely man. He was destined not to marry! I firmly believe that mar¬riages are made in heaven and Sanjeevji’s marriage was not destined to be. I have never loved anyone as much as I loved him At the time I was involved with him, his doctor told me, ‘DON’T CARE SO MUCH FOR THIS MAN. I GIVE HIM JUST TWO YEARS TO LIVE.’ But what can you do when your heart is involved? Sanjeevji’s biggest weakness was his drinks. Despite being a heart patient, he continued to drink heavily. It was like putting acid on a raw wound. No one cared enough to help him He was constantly surrounded by people and that is the reason I could not help him. His friends, who were also drunkards, took advantage of him. Had I been with him, I would have got rid of all his bottles, one by one…
After Sanjeevji died, I went into acute depression. I ALMOST KILLED MYSELF! But it was God’s will that I lived and so here I am, still leading my life, though I haven’t yet recovered totally. I have locked the connecting door to my room and the whole day I watch beautiful films, listen to beautiful music and write poetry. I am gathering the courage to face life and the world again! (1999)”
http://cineplot.com/love-never-dies-sulakshana-pandit-on-sanjeev-kumar-her-love-died-untold/