she next starred in "stree" (1961), a film version of shakuntala's story from the "mahabharata". as the epic mentions that shakuntala and her son bharata lived in the wilderness among lions, shantaram decided to include real lions in some scenes. sandhya did not have a double for these scenes; she prepared by shadowing a lion tamer and practicing in the cage with the lions. sandhya's last major role was in the marathi version of "pinjra"; her character falls in love with a schoolteacher played by shriram lagoo in his film debut.