Nutan Samarth
Nutan was yet another highly talented , finest and legendary actress of hindi film’s golden period . She worked in films from 1950 to 1991 for glorious long forty years with about 70 films to her credit and won five film fare awards for best actress . Nutan was born on 4 June 1936 in Bombay into a Marathi Hindu family to her parents Kumarsen Samarth ( Director and a poet ) and Shobhna samarth ( an actress ) . Her father – Kumarsen was one of the founding developers of the Films Division of India .Actress Tanuja was her sister and modern time’s famous actress kajol is the daughter of Tanuja . Nutan was educated at the Baldwin Girls’ High School in Bangalore and since her childhood she was interested in performing arts ,singing and dancing and took lessons in classical music for four years under Shri Jagannath Prasad. Besides she was good in swimming, horse riding, car driving and badminton.At the age of 8 she acted for the first time in film Nal Damayanti (1945 ) . in 1953, when her film career had already started, she studied for one more year in Chatelaine school, geneva in Switzerland and learnt french . During this period , she put on weight and returned back home looking lovelier than ever before .Nutan had debuted in films as a child at the age of 14 by performing in film Hamari Beti (1950), directed by her mother. Her acting in this film got critical appreciation .Her next film was suspense thriller Nagina नगीना (1951) followed by film hum log हम लोग and her performance in the films gained her greater recognition as both the films were commercially success and established her as a future star .However , She got her first major break in film Seema सीमा (1955) along with Balraj Sahani and acted superbly in the role of a delinquent sent to a reform house and for her powerful role she won her first Filmfare Award for Best Actress . In her subsequent films she demonstrated her versatility as an actress with films like Baarish, Chandan ,Dilli ka thug , Aakhri dao and chhalia . She acted brilliantly in a romantic -comedy hit film Paying Guest in which Dev Anand played as hero . With her successive hit films she got the stardom by the late 1950s . In 1959, she starred in two hit films, Anari (with Raj Kapoor) and Bimal Roy’s Sujata (with Sunil Dutt) . Her role in film Sujata won her unstinted praise from all including that of Nehru for her portrayal of a girl born in a lower caste family but brought up by an upper caste one and for which she won her second Filmfare Award for Best Actress in 1960 .In 1960 she starred opposite Raj Kapoor once again in Manmohan Desai’s film Chhalia छलिया which earned her a Filmfare nomination for Best Actress.She had formed a popular couple जोड़ी with Dev Anand and both acted in four films together – Paying Guest (1957), Baarish (1957), Manzil (1960) and Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963). By far her best performance was in Bimal Roy’s film Bandini बंदिनी 1963 in lead role as kalyani who poisons her lover Ashok kumar’s wife , gets imprisoned and during this period falls in love with young prison doctor – Dharmendra facing choice between her old and new love . Bandini film was a major success and Nutan’s acting received career-best reviews for her portrayal and is often cited as one of the finest performances of Indian cinema. The film won six awards at the 11th Filmfare Awards . In the year 2010, The Filmfare included her performance in Bandini in the list of “80 top Iconic Performances” . Nutan continued to work throughout the 1960s appearing in hit films like Dil hi to hai दिल ही तो है ( 1963) with Raj kapoor, khandaan खानदान ( 1965) with sunil dutt, tere ghar key samney तेरे घर के सामने ( 1963) opposite devanand , dil ney phir yaad kiya दिल ने फिर याद किया ( 1966) with Dharmendra and saraswatichandra सरस्वतिचंदर in 1968 . Nutan’ fourth Filmfare award came for film Milan मिलन ( 1967) which co-started Sunil Dutt as hero . During 1970s ; she acted only in select films like Maa aur Mamata( 1970) , Saudagar सौदागर( 1973) with new actor Amitabh Bachchan ( incidentally film Saudagar was selected as the indian entry for the best foreign language film at the academy awards ) sajjan bin suhagan ( 1978) and kasturi ( 1980) but this didn’t prevent her from leaving her customary impact on the audienceAfter film Saudagar she didn’t act for five years and then in 1978 made an astonishing return in the role of the righteous Sanjukta Chauhan in film Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki मैं तुलसी तेरे आँगन की and for her superb performance, she won her fifth Filmfare Award for Best Actress, at the age of 42. She thus became a record holder in the category, having won five awards for Best Actress at Filmfare. At 42 she was also age wise the oldest winner of this award. Nutan was perhaps the only actress of her generation to command leading roles while in her 40s with tremendous success.In the 1980s she acted in blockbuster films such as Meri Jung मेरी जॉग ( 1985), Naam नाम (1986) and Karma 1986). For film Meri Jung मेरी जंग she won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her last film released ,while she was alive , was Kanoon Apna Apna क़ानून अपना अपना in 1989. Nutan had married Navy officer Rajnish Behl , a Punjabi hindu, on 11 October 1959. Their only son Mohnish Behl was born in 1961 and who later became a television and film actor.Nutan was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 1990. In February 1991, she was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai where She died on 21 February 1991 leaving the indian cinema devoid of one of it’s best artist who was noted for her willingness to play unconventional and path breaking roles. In 1974, she was conferred with the award of Padma Shri by the govt . In 2012, Nutan was placed 10th by NDTV in it’s list of “The Most Popular Actress of All Time” . In 2022, she was placed in Outlook India’s 75 Best Bollywood Actresses list. Times of India placed her in their “50 Beautiful Faces” list. Filmfare termed Nutan’s face as most camera-friendly as one could film her from any angle and it came out perfect .Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali tributed her by saying ‘They don’t make actresses like Nutan anymore.’Singer Lata Mangeshkar had said that Nutan did justice to her( lata’s voice) voice on cinema screen.According to Encyclopædia Britannica, Nutan had “developed a natural acting style under Bimal Roy’s direction .The Indian Express stated, “Nutan left an indelible mark on the minds of those who had the fortune of watching her on the silver screen .She performed a range of roles that measured up both critically and as a star and she was known for female characters that stood “shoulder-to-shoulder” with the male characters of the films and her several roles dominated her films .She was awarded the Padma shri in 1974 by the govt and in 2011 a postal stam was issued in her honour but It’s a surprise that till now she has not been conferred with DADAJI phalke award- which she most aptly deserves.
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Six stars
She acted in about 70 films of which the prominent ones are :-
Hum Log (1951)
Parbat 1953
Laila Majnu(1953
Shabaab 1954
Seema (1955)
Paying guest 1957
Baarish 1957
Chandan (1958)
Kabhi Andhera Kabhi
Ujala (1958)
Light House (1958)
Anari (1959)
Sujata (1959)
Chhalia (1960)
Manzil ( 1960)
Bandini (1963)
Dil hi to hai ( 1963)
Tere Ghar Ke Samne( 1963)
Chandi Ki Deewar (1964) Khandan ( 1965)
Rishte Naate (1965)
Chhota Bhai (1966)
Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya ( 1966)
Dulhan Ek Raat Ki ( 1967)
Milan (1967)
Saraswatichandra (1968)
Bhai Bahen ( 1969)
Maa Aur Mamta (1970) Devi (1970)
Yaadgaar ( 1970)
Lagan ( 1971)
Anuraag (1972)
Saudagar (1973)
Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki (1978)
Saajan Bina Suhagan (1978)
Hamara Sansar (1978)
Teri Maang Sitaron Se Bhar Doon (1982)
Jeeo Aur Jeene Do ( 1982)
Sone Pe Suhaaga ( 1988)
Mujrim ( 1989)
Kanoon Apna Apna( 1989)
Aulaad Ki Khatir (1990)
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