Legends
Reminiscing the Charismatic Nargis Dutt
Hindi cinema’s celebrated actress Fatima Rashid was born on June 1st, 1929. Now, one must be wondering who is this actress, and might end up typing it in Google. To end the confusion, this actress born as Fatima, later was named as Nargis when she came into movies and became an evergreen actress leaving behind some memorable movies to be always cherished across the changing generation of the film fraternity.
Nargis was born to Abdul Rashid and, Jaddanbai who was a Hindustani Claasical singer. Nargis made her debut as a child artist in the movie Talashe Haq in 1935 when she was six years old. Later she was much appreciated for her adult roles which she started acting from the age of 14. Nargis is remembered for her numerous blockbuster movies which hit the screen during late 1940s and 50s.
In most of her movies she has acted opposite to her co-star Raj Kapoor. Her romantic association with Raj Kapoor back then made the duo as one of the most romantic and loved couple on screen which continues to be celebrated in the Bollywood and among fans even today. Barsaat (1949), Andaz (1949), Awaara (1951), Deedar (1951), Shree 420 (1955), and Chori Chori (1956), are only some of the hits in the long records of movie featuring her as an actress.
In 1957 Nargis appeared in the Oscar nominated movie Mother India along with Sunil Dutt and Rajendra Kumar. For her incredulous acting in this particular movie Nargis won the Filmafare Award for the best actress that year. This movie earns importance also because of the fact that Nargis found her soul mate, Sunil Dutt through this movie. It was reported that Dutt saved Nargi’s life from a fire accident on the sets of Mother India after which she got married to him. After her marriage she hardly came on screen, but her last performance in Raat aur Din in 1967 won her National Film Award for the best actress and she became the first actress in Bollywood to win it in this category.
Nargis left movies after her marriage to settle down with her family life, with her husband and her three children- Sanjay, Namrata and Priya Dutt. Sanjay Dutt is a notable actor in Bollywood today, Namrata is married to the actor Kumar Gaurav and, Priya Dutt is currently a politician and also a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha). Nargis also earned credit for the significant social work which she did along with her husband. In 1981 she died of pancreatic cancer just before the release of her son’s debut movie Rocky. Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Foundation was established in 1982 in the memory of the actress.
Nargis has made her name immortal with her outstanding performances in Hindi cinema. It is time for her fans to remember the charismatic Nargis on her 86th birthday and go back to her wonderful movies for which there cannot be a better day.
Ending this, with some of my favorite songs from Nargi’s movies.
1) An evergreen romantic number again from Chori Chori
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNPAABBkk7M
2) Jahan main jaati hoon from Chori Chori
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVJYXbjefCs
3) A song from Shree 420
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dx_STgFLLo
4) Nargis in Mother India
5) And at last, the most celebrated romantic song in Bollywood till date.
