By Jagmohan Singh Barhok
On Her Birth Anniversary
प्यार का तोहफा
तेरा बना है जीवन मेरा
दिल के सहारे मैंने प् लिए
जीने को और क्या चाहिए
तोहफा तोहफा तोहफा तोहफा
लाया लाया लाया लाया
Jaya Prada, one of the most beautiful actresses of her time, was born Lalita Rani at Rajah Mundry in Andhra Pradesh. Interestingly, she not only enjoyed an iconic status in both Hindi & Telugu films, she was also held in high esteem in Tamil, Kannada & Malayalam films, too. The splendorous nay ethereal beauty ruled the roost in late 1970s, 1980s & 1990 doing roles opposite most of the leading heroes.
She worked opposite Amitabh Bachchan in “Aakhree Raasta”, “Aaj Ka Arjun”, “Gangaa Jamuna Saraswathi”, “Insaniyat”, “Sharaabi”, “Jaadugar”, “Indrajeet” ,”Kohraam” & Maqsad” ; Tohfa, Lav Kush, Aulad with Jeetendra. She featured opposite Vinod Khanna in ‘Ustaad’ & in ‘Sindoor’ (1987) alongside Shashi Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor & with Sunny Deol in “Veertaa”.
She worked with Rishi Kapoor in ‘Sargam’ (1979). One of the film’s songs ‘Dafliwale Dafli Baja’ became too popular. ‘Tohfa Tohfa Tohfa’, ‘Intehan Hogayi Intezaar Ki’, ‘De De Pyaar De’, ‘Mujhe Naulakha Manga De Re’, ‘Yashoda Ka Nandlala’ ,’Hum To Chale Pardes’, ‘Tujh Sang Prit Lagaai Sajanaa’ & ‘Gori Hain Kalaiyan’ were some of the popular nay unforgettable songs picturized on her. Married, already married, Srikanth Nahata in 1986.
