Veteran actress Shashikala breathed her last on April 4, Sunday. She was 88 years old and died of old age in Colaba, Mumbai. Shashikala had worked in more than a hundred Bollywood films. Shashikala was born in August 1932 in a Maharashtrian family belonging to Solapur.
Shashikala Jawalkar was one of six children in Marathi speaking family. When Shashikala was in her pre-teens ,her father brought his family to Bombay. For some time, the family lived with friends and barely survived, while Shashikala wandered from one studio to another looking for work. Noor Jehan’s husband Shaukat Hussain Rizvi, was making the movie Zeenat then, and included Shashikala in a qawwali scene. In 1959, she appeared in Bimal Roy’s Sujata. In Tarachand Barjatya’s Aarti (1962), Shashikala portrayed a negative role, eventually winning a Filmfare Award. Soon after, offers began to pour in to her for supporting roles. She appeared in Anupama, Phool Aur Patthar, Ayi Milan Ki Bela,Gumrah, Waqt and Khubsoorat.
For her contribution to Indian Cinema, Shashikala was conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri award in the year 2007. In 2009, she had received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the V Shantaram Awards.
Have a look at Shashikala’s First Major Appearance in Qawwali from Zeenat :
Bheegi Bheegi Faza Song from the movie Anupama featuring Shashi Kala –