to the producer Sashadhar Mukherjee's promise to actor Shammi Kapoor, he replaced Dev Anand with Shammi Kapoor. However, the director Nasir Hussain was in a quandary as he had already read the script to Dev Anand and Vyjayanthimala, but Mukerji prevailed and he also replaced Vyjayanthimala with Ameeta, who was the protégée of Filmistan Studios owner Tolaram Jalan. Vyjayanthimala's next release was Kathputli, in which she co-starred with actor Balraj Sahni for the first time. This film was about a young girl named Pushpa who, on account of being a good dancer and singer, assists puppeteer Shivraj in his puppet show. This film was director Amiya Chakravarty's last film. He died during the filming of Kathputli and the remaining project was completed by director Nitin Bose. Kathputli remains one of the memorable films of Vyjayanthimala which has an offbeat theme with a Pygmalion touch. Vyjayanthimala then acted in Ek Jhalak with Rajendra Kumar and Pradeep Kumar, which was produced by the latter with his home production company Deep & Pradeep Productions. She returned to the screen again with Kishore Kumar in the 1957 partially colour-made film Aasha which became a hit at the box office. The story revolves around the central character Kishore, played by Kishore Kumar, who, despite being a Zamindar, believes in helping the needy. Vyjayanthimala, as Nirmala, plays the lover of Kishore. The story suddenly goes from being light-hearted and humorous to a court-drama when Kishore is falsely accused of murder. The rest of the movie sees both the protagonists trying to prove Kishore's innocence. The movie is best known for its song "Eena Meena Dekha" sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle, in two different versions. Aasha also introduced actress Asha Parekh to the silver screen, in a song alongside Vyjayanthimala, whom Parekh described as her matinee idol. Madhumati, Sadhna and continued acclaim The following year proved to be very successful for Vyjayanthimala, since she signed opposite Dilip Kumar in Bimal Roy's Madhumati in the title role. Originally supposed to essay four roles, the director finally scaled it down to three, Madhumati, Madhavi and Radha. The film was launched in front of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Theatre in Czechoslovakia. During the filming in the hills of Nainital, Vyjayanthimala was required to dance barefoot where she tripped on a stone and fell, hurting herself badly and causing damage to her fibre tissues in the sole