the critics. Anuj Kumar from The Hindu said that: "Vyjayanthimala is graceful as ever. In a film dominated by men, Rawail made sure she had a substantial role. Her dances and Naushad’s lilting tunes come as a welcome break to the sinewy tone imparted by Abrar Alvi and Gulzar’s dialogues". The role fetched her the Best Hindi Actress Award at 25th Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards. Sunghursh was followed by Saathi, directed by C. V. Sridhar. A remake of the highly acclaimed Tamil film of 1961, Palum Pazhamum, the film had Rajendra Kumar and Simi Garewal replacing Sivaji Ganesan and Sowcar Janaki respectively from the Tamil version with Vyjyanthimala enacting the role originally portrayed by B. Saroja Devi. The same year she co-starred with Dev Anand for the third and last time in T. Prakash Rao's Duniya. Duniya, Saathi and Sunghursh were named as tenth, eleventh and twelfth highest-grossing film of 1968 respectively, with the first two labelled as average while the latter only managed to do above average business at the box office. On the other hand, Duniya is considered a hit film by some critics and often included in the hit film list of Dev Anand. In 1969, she was the first Indian dancer to perform at the United Nations General Assembly to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. After her retirement from films, Vyjayanthimala was offered many roles by big banners opposite leading actors of that time. But she refused all those offers as she did not want to make a comeback. In 1968, she was signed opposite Raj Kapoor in Mahesh Kaul's Sapno Ka Saudagar, she refused the role which went to the debutante Hema Malini, who become one of the most popular actresses in Hindi films later. However, in 1975, Vyjayanthimala was almost signed in Gulzar's Aandhi with Sanjeev Kumar but she backed out from the project as the role resembled Indira Gandhi's personal life. Perhaps the most famous role that Vyjayanthimala ever turned down was the 1975 crime-drama film Deewaar. Inspired by the 1961 film Ganga Jumna, a Vyjayanthimala starrer, the film was directed by Yash Chopra and stars Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor. She turned down the role of a mother for the lead actors, which later went to Nirupa Roy, who attained popularity through the success of the film and was later cast in