Nanda! we remember you !

 

Nanda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Neena Badhwar

 

I did not even realise that our old time favourite actress Nanda is gone. She passed away at the age of 75 years last year having had a massive heart attack as her passing away shocked all her fellow friends and actresses namely Saira Bano, Waheeda Rehman, Asha Parekh and others.

Said Sairo who came to pay her condolences at Nanda’s funeral, “I am quite in a shock as only a while ago I had gifted Nanda with a new outfit on her birthday and when I talked to her she thanked me and told me that she was wearing it.”

Sairo added, “But today it is sad to see her and it is a very emotional moment for me as Nanda is wearing the same dress that I had gifted her.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGcKCa830OU

Nanda left for heavenly abode in March 2014 and if I really go back to my own Facebook posts I may find that for some unknown reason I had posted a beautiful love song picturised on Nanda and that handsome Shashi Kapoor at that very time. It was ”˜Thehriye hosh mein aa loon tau chale jaayiga’. That when I had posted it I must be thinking of her without realising that she was no more.

I have watched this song again and again as Shashi Kapoor lovingly caresses Nanda’s curly locks that happen to play on her forehead and he sings this beautiful number to her. He gently helps her holding her hand to come on board the little boat and Nanda is all shy as if enamoured totally by her handsome beau.

Nanda worked in close to a little over hundred movies. Noted of which are: Joru Ka Ghulam,Neend Hamare Khwab Tumhare, Kanoon, Pati Patni, Gumnaam, Akashdeep, Jab Kab Phool Khile, Bedaag and Raja Saab.

Nanda, a Maharashtrian actress, sacrificed a lot and help educate her six siblings as her father died young. She never married. At one time an army officer was keen to marry her but the proposal somehow fizzled and then she was engaged to a film maker Manmohan Desai who before their marriage died by falling from a railing in Gurgaon, Delhi. So she stayed unmarried.

Nanda was known to encourage newcomers including Shashi Kapoor who had joined the film industry after working in English films abroad. She also worked with young new actors such as Jitendra, Navin Nishchol and also Rajesh Khanna got his first break in the movie ”˜Ittefaq’ along side Nanda after which he never looked back.

Nanda won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for the film Anchal (1960).She was also paired with Raj Kapoor in Aashiq (1962) and she worked with Rajendra Kumar in 3 films – Toofan Aur Diya (1956), Dhool Ka Phool (1961), Kanoon (1960) and with Dev Anand in Hum Dono and Teen Deviyan.

Nanda was the second highest paid Hindi actress along with Nutan from 1960-65, and the second highest paid Hindi actress between 1966-69 along-with Nutan and Waheeda, and the third highest paid Hindi actress, along-with Sadhana, from 1970-73.

We remember this great actress who lighted our lives with her beautiful roles as she joined the film world at a very young age as Baby Nanda and acted in Jagriti and little known films such as Jaggu, Angarey from 1952 and then got sister roles in the well known ”˜Toofan Aur Diya’ and ”˜Chhoti Behan’.

Let us pay our tribute to this great Indian actress who gave us some memorable movies, songs and worked hard to help raise her siblings.

R.I.P Dear Nanda !

Short URL: https://indiandownunder.com.au/?p=5761