On her 72nd birthday today (3 November), here's a quick primer on Faryal, an actress from the 1960s and 1970s.
Sonal Pandya
Born to an Indian father and Syrian mother in Damascus, Faryal was a product of the Filmalaya Actor's School which also produced Asha Parekh, Simi Garewal, Sadhana, Joy Mukherjee and Sanjeev Kumar. She attended the Loretto Convent in Simla before finishing her education at Cathedral High School and St. Xavier's in Mumbai.
The former model also worked as an air hostess for Air India before acting in her first lead role in Biradari (1966) opposite Shashi Kapoor. The film, co-starring Pran and Lalita Pawar, failed at the box office. However, her first film to release in theatres was the spy caper Zindagi aur Maut (1965) with Pradeep Kumar.
Faryal appeared in small roles in films like Sachaa Jhutha (1970), Loafer (1973), Shammi Kapoor's directorial debut Manoranjan (1974) and Rafoo Chakkar (1975). But perhaps she is most well known for her eye-catching cabaret dance in Vijay Anand's Jewel Thief (1967).
Ironically, she claimed in an interview that she wasn't fond of dancing and had no formal training. Later on, she got typecast into similar roles as filmmakers mostly saw her in a Westernised avatar and even today, she is remembered as a cabaret dancer of the 1960s and 1970s.
Faryal's last film role was in Raveekant Nagaich's The Gold Medal (1984) and she now lives a life away from films in Israel.
