Remembering Retro Bollywood Diva Nimmi
Today marks the anniversary of the birth of the gorgeous retro Bollywood diva, the talented and beautiful Nimmi... (Nawab Bano)
The golden girl of the golden era. 1950s... The heyday of music, poetry, romance... Petite Nimmi came to Bollywood when theystately beauties such as Nargis, Madhubala, Meena Kumari and Vyjayanthimala ruled. Nimmi often played the role of second heroines: "The Rainy Season" (1949), "The Look" (1951), "Amar" (1954).
She is overwhelmed with gratitude: “For an artist, the saddest and most unfortunate thing is when people stop recognizing you. When I leave the house, some people still recognize me.”
To escape the turmoil after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, 15-year-old Nawab Banu (real name Nimmi) left Fathbad near Agra for Mumbai with her grandmother. “Grandfather said to grandmother: “Take Lali (her home name) to Bombay!” recalls Nimmi, who lost her mother, singer and actress Wahidan, at the age of 10. They stayed with Nimmi's aunt, actress Jyoti, who was married to musician and director J.M. Durrani. Later, Mehboob Khan was asked for help, as Nimmi's mother, Wahidan, was working with him. The legendary director helped them with housing and allocated a separate room.
In those days, Mehboob Khan was filming Reputation (1949) with Raj Kapoor, Nargis and Dilip Kumar. One day, Nimmi and her grandmother came to the set to watch the shooting. “Mother Nargiz, Bibiji (Jaddanbai), was also present. Seeing her, Raj (Kapoor) came up to touch her feet (a sign of respect). He saw that I was sitting next to her and asked: “What is your name?” It took me five minutes to say my name,” Nimmi recalls.
Raj was just looking for a new face for his film The Monsoon (1949). He really liked the girl and a few days later he sent a luxury car to come to the audition.
“I was so nervous that I cried out of fear! Raj thought I was a very emotional actress,” she smiles. “Initially, I was afraid of Raj. And to make it convenient for me, he took a colored thread and said: “Do you understand the meaning of rakhi? Tie this thread around my hand." Since then, I have knitted Raja Rakhi every year.”
However, her main ticket was Mehboob Khan's Aan (1952) with Dilip Kumar, Prem Nath and Nadira. During the first editing of the film, Nimmi's character, Mangala, died early. But at the request of the distributors, a dream scene was added to give her more screen time. “When Errol saw me, he leaned over to kiss my hand. I took her away saying, "Don't you know I'm an Indian girl?" The next day, the headline “The Unkissed Girl from India” appeared in the newspapers, Nimmi laughs.
Given her fame, the English version of the film was titled "The Wild Princess". When the film was dubbed into French, it was called Mangala, Fille des Indes (Mangala, Indian Girl).
On Dev Anand: “I have never seen Dev Anand idle on set. He spoke only when necessary and with respect. After the take, he would go to the dressing room.”
On Madhubala: “There was a rule that no one could sit on Madhubala's chair. But one day, during the filming of Amar, I accidentally sat on it. My maid pushed me: "She came, get up!" Seeing me, Madhubala said, "Sit down." We became friends. She was a very beautiful, tall girl, with beautiful hands and an extraordinary smile. She really wore lipstick."
On Dilip Kumar: “He caught all the director's remarks on the fly. Therefore, his doubles looked natural. He knew how to express his thoughts beautifully and attracted people to him like a magnet. I will not deny that I was also drawn to him. Beautiful women like Madhubala and others were in love with him. How could I be equal to them? So I tried to avoid thinking about Dilip.”
The ambitious Nimmi starred in the film Danka (1954). Kundan (1955) with Sunil Dutt featured her in the dual role of mother and daughter. But in the 60s, her career was hurt by several wrong decisions.
She rejected films such as Sadhna by B.R. Chopra and "Who is she?" Raja Khosla who performed miracles for Vyjayanthimala and Sadhana respectively. “I gave up films in the hope of getting married. I even turned down Sparkling Moon (1968), even though my costumes were ready,” admits the actress, who was in love with screenwriter and writer Ali Raza, who worked with her on several projects. "He wanted to become a director and prove himself before marrying me." She was also offered the lead role in "My Beloved" with Sadhana and Nanda, but she chose the role of her sister as she felt it was more important.
She does not hide what their marriage was like. “Happiness and tears always go together - this is part of life. I missed work. Mr. Raza wrote during the day and drank with friends in the evening. But I enjoyed taking care of my bungalow in Worli. I never stopped dreaming.
I wanted to start my own production house. I wanted Raza to direct like Mr. Kamal (Amrohi). I was ambitious, but he was the other way around. But over time, I gave up. Didn't want trouble in my marriage." The couple had no children. But Nimmi became a mother to her sister's son. “My younger sister passed away young. Her last wish was that I raise her son. So I brought Parvez from Pakistan,” shares the actress, whose film “Monsoon” was just about to be released at the time.
“Now he lives in the UK with his family,” says Nimmi, and pride fills her heart.
FILMOGRAPHY
Barsaat (1949)
Wafaa, Raj Mukut, Jalte Deep (1950)
Sazaa (1951)
Deedar (1951)
Buzdil (1951)
Bedardi (1951)
Badi Bahu (1951)
Usha Kiron (1952)
Daag (1952)
Aandhiyan (1952)
Aan (1952)
Humdard (1953)
Alif Laila (1953)
Aabshar (1953)
Pyaase Nain (1954)
Kasturi (1954)
Danka (1954)
Amar (1954)
Uran Khatola (1955)
Society (1955)
Kundan (1955)
Char Paise (1955)
Bhagwat Mahima (1955)
Rajdhani (1956)
Bhai-Bhai (1956)
Basant Bahar (1956)
Anjali (1957)
Chotte Babu (1957)
Sohni Mahiwal (1958)
Pehli Raat (1959)
Char Dil Char Raahein (1959)
Angulimaal (1960) .
Shamma (1961)
Mere Mehboob (1963)
Pooja Ke Phool (1964)
Daal Mein Kaala (1964)
Akashdeep (1965)
Love & God (1986)
Some Lesser Known Facts About Nimmi
Does Nimmi smoke?: No
Does Nimmi drink liquor?: No
Nimmi maternal granddad was a little zamindar in pre-free India. Those days few individuals acquired the title of Nawab. Her granddad generally needed one. In this way, when Nimmi was conceived he gave her the title 'Nawab'.
It was Raj Kapoor, who changed her name Nawab Banoo to Nimmi when he presented her in 'Barsaat'.
During the recording of Barsaat, a rakhi scene was being shot and Raj Kapoor got down on Nimmi and asked her "Nimmi do you know the significance of Rakhi?". She gestured and he requested that she tie it on his wrist. From that point forward she turned into his rakhi sister.
Ali Reza was the essayist of 'Aan'. Later they turned out to be nearer lastly got hitched. She used to seriously love his compositions. As a matter of fact, it was his compositions that made her experienced passionate feelings for him.
At the point when Nimmi visited her sister while she was taking her final gasp, the last option mentioned her to embrace her child in the event that her significant other remarried. She generally needed to have youngsters however tragically, she had two unnatural birth cycles.
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