Asha Parekh Birthday Special: 12 lesser known facts about the sixties' sweetheart

The sweetheart of the sixties, Asha Parekh will turn 74 on 2 October, 2016. Dinesh Raheja shares 12 lesser known facts about her.

1. Quite often, Asha played the rich, tomboyish brat (Ziddi, Teesri Manzil, Aan Milo Sajna). In real life too, Asha was pampered a lot by her parents.

2. Born into a middle-class family in the Mumbai suburb of Santa Cruz (she still lives in the same suburb), she was sent to the well-known J B Petit School in town. She would sit on the front seat on the upper storey in a double-decker bus because she loved the feel of the wind on her face.

3. Veteran director Bimal Roy saw Asha dancing on stage and offered her a child's role in his film, Baap Beti (1954).

4. Her films as a child actor include Dhobi Doctor and Ayodhyapati. By 1957, Asha was a teenager and danced alongside her idol Vyjayanthimala in a song from the hit film, Asha.

5. Asha was signed by filmmaker Vijay Bhatt as the heroine in his Gunj Uthi Shehnai. But she was replaced with Ameeta because she was deemed not 'star material'. Within months, however, Sashadhar Mukherji cast her in Dil Deke Dekho (1959) which made her an instant star.

6. During Dil Deke Dekho, Shammi Kapoor patiently tutored the 17-year-old newcomer but the popular twosome did not appear together onscreen for almost seven years thereafter.

7. Asha Parekh has crystal clear memories of the premiere of Dil Deke Dekho held at Novelty cinema. She says, "I remember Raj Kapoor, Geeta Bali, Nirupa Roy and Usha Khanna attended it."