Nargis Dutt
Nargis Dutt is regarded as one of the finest and greatest actresses in the history of hindi Cinema often portraying as a sophisticated and independent women in films in a career of almost three decades from 1942 to 1968 .She was born as Fatima Rashid in calcutta on 1.06.1929 to a Punjabi hindu Brahmin father-Mohandas uttamchand and to Muslim Mother ,Jaddanbai who hailed from Benaras . Nargis’s Mother was involved in singing, music, dance and film making and thus Nargis got groomed in the environment of music and cinema . She did her schooling from Queen Mary’s in Bombay and wanted to be a doctor but destiny brought her to cinema . Nargis first acted in 1935 film Talashe Haq at the tender age of 6 and was named as baby Nargis – the screen name that continued till her end . Her real cinema career started with the film Taqdeer तक़दीर (1943) at the age of 14 along side hero Motilal which got her lot of appreciation from the audience and press. Nargis then starred in moderately successful films Humayun in 1945 opposite Ashok Kumar and in the religious film Ramayani रामायणी as Sita Mata . She acted alongside Raj Kapoor for the first time in film Aag आग in 1948 and though the film was not commercially successful but it opened the doors for this couple to give several superhit films in a short period of next 5/6 years.Her Film Aag , was followed by super hit film Andaz अंदाज (1949) and then musical film Barsaat (1949) both with Raj kapoor as the hero . Film Barsaat बरसात proved to be the highest-earning film of all times breaking also the record of film Andaz .Nargis followed this with nine films in a single year of 1950 of which films Jogan and Babul were box office hits and her performance in Babul बाबुल was specially well taken and appreciated by the media and audiences . After this she starred in Raj Kapoor’s crime cum romance film Awaara (1951) in which Nargis played the role of an outspoken woman-lawyer ( in love with poor Raj ) who criticises the people who considered women to be good only as home makers . She also wore a swimsuit in the film , a bold outfit in that era. The film received all around appreciation for performances of Prithviraj, Raj kapoor and Nargis. Besides home country India ; the film became an overnight sensation in South Asia and found even greater success in the Soviet Union, East Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Eastern Europe . In 1952, Nargis acted in the romance film Bewafa बेवफ़ा and then in the psychological drama Anhonee अनहोनी for which she was highly praised for her dual role .She had some set back briefly in the early1950s, but she made a highly successful come back with the comedy film Shree 420 (1955) and the romantic comedy film Chori Chori (1956) alongside Raj Kapoor and both the movies turned out to be super hit and she earned great appreciation for her role and acting . Her on screen chemistry with Raj kapoor and their potent combination left a superb impression on millions of people. The pair was also reportedly romantically involved. However, Raj Kapoor was already married with children at the time and thus he refused to divorce his wife and reports have it that highly disappointed Nargis then ended the relationship though Nargis ,it is reported , was even ready to be his second wife . The best performance of Nargis was as Radha in super hit film Mother India मदर इंडिया (1957) acting along side Raj kumar, Sunil dutt, Rajendra kumar and Kanhaiya lal . Mother India was a remake of 1942 film Aurat औरत and covered the struggle, poverty, hard work, morality , will power to sustain the family without husband and journey of Nargis ( as Radha in the film) , a peasant woman, from her days as a young bride until her old age. It was a brilliant film with a deep touch of poignancy in which Nargis stood tall as a symbol of womanhood and it was nominated for the Best Foreign Film award at the Oscars, which was missed by just one vote.Nargis won Filmfare Award for Best Actress for this great film and which undoubtedly is regarded as Nargis’s best ever performance . By this time Nargis was already acknowledged as an actress who carried herself gracefully and acted not with exaggerations but subtlety and also as a person who symbolised the spirit of the new Indian woman which became her enduring identity and personality. She was known as the Lady in White, given her fondness for white sarees. She wore only cotton and organza with little embroidery. She never wore jewellery, maybe just small studs or pearls and two gold bangles. Later, she began wearing a rudraksh mala with which she would recite the Mantras . From 1951 to 1957, the country’s Box Office ranked Nargis as the top most actress.But in between a tragic accident occured while shooting for the film -Mother India that changed the life of Nargis . It so happened that while shooting for a scene a haystack caught fire and Nargis got fatally trapped in it but Sunil Dutt bravely rescued her from the leaping flames though he himself suffered several burn injuries. Sunil dutt was co-acting in the film as the younger son ( Birju) of Nargis . Nargis spent lot of time nursing Sunil dutt ( a punjabi mohyal brahmin displaced during 1947 partition ) back to health and that brought them closer with deep love for each other . The duo then tied the marriage knot on 11.3.1958 and Nargis converted herself to hinduism under the new name of Nirmala dutt . They later in life had three children – son – Sanjay and daughters-Namrata and Priya.After her marriage , Nargis almost gave up her film career to settle down with her married life and children and appeared very infrequently in films during the 1960s. Some of her films of this period include film Raat Aur Din रात और दिन ( 1967) and for which she received the inaugural National Film Award for Best Actress.She also started social work, establishing a school for the underprivileged, working for the physically challenged, besides associating herself with various organisations such as Boy Scouts and Guides, the Children’s Film Society and the Film and Television Institute of IndiaWith her husband – sunil dutt ; Nargis formed the Ajanta Arts Cultural Troupe, which performed at remote frontiers to entertain the Indian soldiers at border and It was the first troupe to perform in Dhaka, after the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. Her son – Sanjay went on to become a successful film actor. Daughter Namrata married actor Kumar Gaurav ( son of actor -hero Rajendra Kumar ) and Priya became a politician and a Member of Lok Sabha . Nargis was nominated to Rajya Sabha from 1980-81. However, it was during her tenure that she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and underwent treatment in New York. On her return to India, her condition deteriorated and she went into a coma on May 2. and sadly passed away on May 3, 1981 . She was very close to her son – sanjay . At the premiere of her son sanjay ‘s debut film, Rocky, on May 7, 1981, one seat was kept vacant in her memory and deep affection . Sanjay Dutt was shattered at having lost his mother just before the release of the film. However, he was not the only one to be as heartbroken with her demise. Sunil Dutt, too, suffered from depression for a long time after her death.Nargis is regarded as one of the greatest and finest actress of Indian cinema and highest paid actress of her time .Nargis had 55 films to her credit as an actress and won the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award for her role in Mother India in 1958 . Nargis appeared in Box Office India’s “Top Actresses” list from 1948 to 1957 for eight consecutive years . The Rediff.com in 2011 listed her as the greatest actress of all time, stating: “An actress with range, style, grace and an incredibly warm screen presence, Nargis is truly a leading lady to celebrate “. Yahoo placed her 3rd in its list of “Ten most iconic beauties of Hindi cinema” .In 2015, Google celebrated Nargis’s 86th birthday with a doodle . A street in Bandra, Mumbai, is named Nargis Dutt Road in her memory. A postal stamp was issued by India Post in her honour on 30 December 1993. She was also awarded Padma Shi in 1958 , the first to receive this honour .In 1994, T. J. S. George wrote a biography on Nargis, titled ‘The Life and Times of Nargis ‘ and later in 2007 her daughters published a book about the lives of their parents, titled ‘Mr. and Mrs. Dutt -Memories of our Parents ‘ and in the same year Kishwar Desai compiled “ Darlingji: The True Love Story of Nargis and Sunil Dutt “ . Nargis will be remembered for ever by cinema lovers as a distinguished actress with passionate heart and with god gifted superb beauty and persona .
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Seven stars
