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Actress, director and producer Asha Parekh was one of the top stars in Hindi films from 1959 to 1973 and is said to have starred in more hit films than any other actress.
She was born into a middle-class Gujarati household in Maharashtra. Her mother enrolled her in Indian classical dance classes at an early age. Asha began her career as a child artiste under the screen name Baby Asha Parekh with a 1952 film Aasmaan. Noted filmmaker Bimal Roy saw her performance during a stage show and cast her at the young age of 12 in Baap Beti (1954). The film was a flop and Asha decided to take a break from the silver screen to resume schooling.
At the age of 16, she decided to try her luck with acting again but was rejected in Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959) and the role went to Ameeta, because the filmmaker claimed she was not a star material.
The very next day, writer-director Nasir Hussain cast her as the lead in Dil Deke Dekho (1959) opposite Shammi Kapoor which made Asha a star overnight.
With Dil Deke Dekho began a long association with Nasir Hussain and he cast her in six more of his films: Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai (1961), Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Teesri Manzil (1966), Baharon Ke Sapne (1967), Pyar Ka Mausam (1969), and Caravan (1971). She also did a cameo in Nasir Hussain's Manzil Manzil in 1984. Later Nasir got her involved in film distribution, she started with 1967 film Baharon Ke Sapne.
Asha Parekh's eyes were her trademark. They spoke far greater than her dialogues...
She sported a different hairstyle in every movie from a bob-cut to a bee hive...