I.S. Johar came to her with a film offer, but director Vijay Bhatt told her to turn down the offer as he had cast her in Goonj Uthi Shenai (1959), but he soon fired her and she was without work until she was cast in Dil Deke Dekho (1959), which made her a star.
In 2006, Asha said that she and the other 1960's stars were living lives of self-imposed seclusion and solitude. To remedy the situation, she, Sadhana, Nanda, Waheeda Rehman, Shammi, and Vyjayantimala meet regularly at each other's homes to chat, catch up with old times, have lunch, or watch a movie. Asha has urged other retired performers to do the same before it's too late as nothing is more therapeutic in life than companionship.
In addition to Nasir Hussain, seven major directors cast Asha more than once due to her immense talent, beauty, and professionalism: Pramod Chakravorthy, Vijay Anand, Raj Khosla, Raghunath Jhalani, Mohan Segal, Shakti Samanta, and J.P. Dutta.
In her eagerness to devote more time to do dance shows, she turned down film roles that made stars out of others.
Is a fan of actor Dilip Kumar and was disappointed when they didn't get to act together in a film.
Nasir Hussain gave her a cameo in their eighth film together, Manzil Manzil (1984).
Never married, Asha says her reputation of being unapproachable probably made people hesitate in asking for her hand in marriage.
Producer-Director Nasir Hussain found Asha to be so professional that he cast her as the heroine in seven films: Dil Deke Dekko (1959), Jab Pyar Kisse Hota Hai (1961), Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Teesri Manzil (1966), Baharon Ke Sapne (1967), Pyar Ka Mausam (1969), and Caravan (1971).
Shammi Kapoor is her favorite leading man, and although they played a romantic pair in their four films together, he never made a pass at her in real life and always called her "bhatiji" (niece), while she called him "chacha" (uncle).
She beat out a then-unknown Sadhana for her break-through role in the hit film "Dil Deke Dekho" (1959). But Sadhana soon got her big break with the hit "Love in Simla" (1960) and found a husband on the set, the film's director R.K. Nayyar.
She claims to be a bad cook and doesn't like salads, because they remind her of diets.
She gave up acting in 1995 to concentrate on her passion of directing television serials, of which she had done many.
She is the treasurer of the Cine Artists' Welfare Association Trust(CINTA), which is a home for many film and television artistes fallen on bad days.
She received the 7th International Indian Film Academy Award for outstanding achievement in Indian cinema on June 16, 2006 in Dubai. She was chosen unanimously by the advisory board for her status as an industry icon, and for her career as actress, producer, director, and also having been the first female chairperson of the Indian film censor board.
She received two Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2007: One from the Fifth Annual Pune International Film Festival in India, and the other from the Ninth Annual Bollywood Awards in New York, USA.
She said that although it is difficult to be a woman director in the television industry, she has no problem commanding respect from everyone on the set when she is shooting television serials.
She was the president of the Cine Artistes' Association from 1994-2000, and later said that it was time consuming, difficult, and ultimately a "thankless job."
The Asha Parekh Hospital in Mumbai is named after her, because of her many humanitarian contributions.
Top Hindi Film Heroine from 1959 to 1973.
Unlike her favorite hero Shammi Kapoor, she rarely attended musical recordings of her films and was amazed and flattered that music composers and lyricists wrote beautiful songs for her.