Nostalgia......yesteryear Actresses

she was an estiblised actress,but dunno why accpted second lead in aan,where newcomer nadira was playing lead role which was offered to nargis..

Durga Khote
Brahmin film star whose appearance in Ayodhyecha Raja (1932) helped to legitimize respectable actresses performing in films.For a span of over 50 years, Durga Khote has been one of the most outstanding personalities of Indian Cinema, her unique career covering direction, production and acting. Her illustrious career commenced with the silent movies, Farebi Jaal, in 1931, just before the talkie was emerging. Her first talkie was the bi-lingual (Hindi & Marathi) Ayodhyecha Raja which was produced in 1932.With the studio system in vogue, she worked with Prabhat Film Co. Poona, New Theatres and East India (both at Calcutta), Prakash Pictures.She was an active participant of the Indian People's Theater Association (IPTA), a progressive, left-leaning movement of artists, writers and playwrights with links with the Communist Party and the Progressive Writers' Association (PWA), and which was incorporated as an all-Indian movement in 1943.She was committed to "democracy" as she understood it. Her family opposed and campaigned against Indira Gandhi's emergency (1977-1979) which suspended civil rights.As early as 1937, she produced and directed the feature film Saathi.She has acted in over 200 films in her career of 50 years plus. Her company continuous to produce these shorts, now headed by her daughter.Later she graduated to character roles, and remained active till the age of 80.She passed away in 1991.She received National Sangeet Academy Award,Dada Saheb Phalke Award,Padmashree State Award for Dhartichi Lekre (1970)and Filmfare Award for best supporting actress in Bidai (1974).

Her Performances-Ayodhyecha Raja(Govind Rao),Maya Machindra(Vinayak),Seeta(Prithvi Raj Kapoor),Amar Jyoti(Chandramohan,Shanta apte),Saathi(Mubarak),Bharat Milap(Prem Abid,Shobhna Samarth),Tasveer(Moti Lal),Mughle Aajam(Prithivi RK,Daleep K,Madhubala)(Rishi,Dimple),Bidai(Jeetendra,Leena),Khushbu(Jeetendra,Hema) & Karj(Rishi,Simmi,Tina M).

Shobhana Samarth,mother of Nutan and Tanuja, grandmother of Kajol,Mohnish Behl & Tanisha. She is at the head of a family that has produced filmstars for three generations.But her entry into films was not simple.When her father passed away, Shobhana and her mother had to depend on her maternal uncle. He vehemently opposed the idea of Shobhana becoming an actress.Her uncle,whose daughter Nalini Jaywant later went on to became a well-known actress,justified his stand by saying that nobody would marry Shobhana if she became an actress. Then one day, her mother brought a proposal for her to marry Kumarsen Samarth, who had just returned from Germany having studied cinematography there.She asked him if he would object to her acting, he said, 'not at all.'becouse he was all set to do cinematography himself. So the two got married and thus began Shobhana's film career. Her first film, Nigahen Nafrat released in 1935, a few months after she was married. Her first daughter Nutan was born in June,After Nutan it was Tanuja,but they were willing to have son but after Tanuja it was again a doughter Chathura and finally a son Jaideep.Shobhana and her husband Kumarsen parted ways amicably. Their relationship became strained possibly because he couldn't take her success, even He made some films for her too.He visited his children and kept in touch with them till he passed away in the mid '70s.Her relationship with famous actor Motilal became the talk of the entire country,Everything about him resembled her father so much that she couldn't stop loving him.She even had some probblems with Nutan over some ecnomical issues,but all those things got solved when Nutan was on her last stage.Even at 84 she was having black hair( She never dyed it)She spent her last days very peacefully and even made an appearance on TV show Movers & Shakers(Host by Shekhar Suman) in 1999.She passed away in feb 2000.

She got Special Filmfare Award for her contribution to Indian Cinema in 1997.

Her Performances-Do Deewane ( Motilal and Yakub), Kokila (Motilal and Sabita Devi), Pati Patni (Wasti and Yakub), Sadhana ( Premadeeb), Apni Nagariya ( Nazir),Nayi Duniya (Jairaj), Savera (with Aroon who is actor Govinda's father)and Ram Rajya (with Prem Adip).

Can someone identify the people standing with Nimmi? One of them is Talat and other is Dilip Kumar. Who is the lady and the guy standing with Nimmi?

my guess ismayil merchant and protima..

Jassi, in my opinion, Nimmi rightly turned down the role of a prostitute in SADHNA because only Vyjantimala could have performed the role of a dancing Tawaif. Nimmi was no dancer. As for her courtesan role in MERE MEHBOB , it was steeped in respectability and a very subdued one, a la 'Tehzeeb' of Lucknow.

Having seen her just a few days ago, she is a far cry from the Nimmi of the yore naturally.

NASIR.

Thank you jassi ....

Actress Peace Kanwal,Nimmi,V.Shantaram,Talat mahmood and Dilip kumar

Naseem Bano
Said to be Bollywood s first female superstar known as "beauty queen" or Pari Chehra.Doughter of succesful singer Shamshad Begum and mother of succesful actress Saira Banu,Naseem Bano was also a succesful actress and singer.Her beauty attracted a myriad of film offers, but she had to resort to a hunger strike before her family would allow her to appear in movies. Naseem s entry to the movies was accidental when she visited Bombay and was offered a role in Hamlet,

which made her an overnight sensation. She shot Khoon ka Khoon, President, Divorce, Khan Bahadur, Meetha Zahar and Vasant but it was historical classic Minerva Movietone’s Pukar, in which, her leading role in Mughul-era spectacular gave her a tender performance as the monarch Noor Jehan that brought her success in 1930s hit. Before she retired in mid-1950 she also appeared in Sheesh Mahal, Chal Chal Re Naujawan, Naushirwan-e-Adil and other films. Naseem came from wealthy background, unlike most actresses of her era who rose from poverty. She joined the film industry when it was considered to be part of a very low profession.She retired in the mid-1950s so that she would not compete with the blossoming acting career of her daughter Saira Banu Instead, she turned her attention to designing clothing, especially intricately embroidered saris, until her death in 2002.

Her Performances-Hamlet(in hindi Khoon Ka Khoon),President(Prithviraj Kapoor),Meetha Zehar,Pukar( Sohrab Modi),Talaaq(Prem Adip),Begum(Ashok Kumar),Chal Chal Re Noujwan( Ashok Kumar,Jagdish Sethi),Door Chalen(Balraj Sahni),Anokhi Ada( Shyam,Cuckoo) etc.

Also known as Lalitabai, started her career in 1928 as a child artiste with Aryan Films Company for a monthly salary of Rs.18.In a career spanning 72 years, she acted in more than 800 Hindi, Marathi, Gujarathi and Bhojpuri films. She was the leading lady of the regional silent era and, later, a character artiste till she retired from the celluoid.After she grew up and graduated to play the leading lady, she was known more as the "most ravishing beauty of the silent movies". Later, when she had her fill of lead roles, she switched over to doing character roles, some "vampish" roles came her way, but it was her enactment of wicked and tyrannical mother-in-law for which she is still remembered.She produced a film titled Kailash on a partnership basis, but couldn't resist the temptation to star in it. Hence she went ahead and did triple role of a heroine, the vamp, and the mother. Incidentally it was a silent film. In 1937, she produced another film, titled Duniya Kya Hai. Inspite of her career going great guns, a freak accident resulted in facial paralysis and an impairment of her eyesight. During the shooting of Jung-e-azadi, master Bhagwan had to slap her. Her left ear started bleeding profusely. The left part of her face was paralysed and she developed a squint in the left eye. It took her almost 4 years of vigorous and expensive treatment,She again made her re-entry and got success..Lalita spent her last days in her hometown Pune where she died alone(1998) and lonely. A sad end for a great star.

She got Filmfare supporting nomiees for Parvarish,Anari,Proffessor,Kohra,Deewana etc. She won the suporing actress award for Anari.

Raja Harishchandra(First talkie),Kirti(Jagdish Sethi),Dahej(Prithvi Raj),Mr & Mrs 55(Gurudutt,Madhubala),Shri 420(Raj K,Nargis,Nadira), Parvarish(Raj Kapoor,Mala Sinha),Anari(Raj K,Nutan),Jis desh me ganga behti hai(Raj K,Padmini),Proffessor(Shammi K,Kalpana),Kohra(Wahida R,Vishvajeet),Bahurani(Gurudutt,Mala S,Firoze K),Khaandaan(Suneel D,Nutan),Junglee(Shammi,Saira),Boond jo ban gayi moti(Jeetebdra,Mumtaj),Deewana(Raj K,Saira ,Neelkamal(Wahida R,Rajkumar,Manoj K),Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi(Sanjay K,Leena C) & Noukar(Sanjeev K,Jaya Bachan).

any idea abt this actress

There are very few movies in which Nimmi was solo heroine. Nimmi once mentioned that she was mostly cast as "other" woman jilted in love. Udan Khatola, Aan, Deedar, Barsaat, Bhai Bhai, Amar, Alif Laila, Sazaa... Therefore, it is not surprising she played the second lead to Nadira in Aan... The problem with Lollywood and Bollywood is that artistes are typecasted in the same role again and again.

I think Reeth mentioned in one of his previous posts that Nadira wasn't a good actress and in Aan she mostly had to look at the hero with her eyes opened wide... It was not her fault... According to Nadira, Mehboob's directing skills were old fashioned and in Aan it was under Mehboob's direction that she had to look with her eyes opened wide because as per Mehboob it would make her look more "haughty"

i guess its fine if she played second leads to her junier,but top actresses like mala,nanda n sadhana..but nadira was just a new girl and later become part of b grade films and did some strong supporting roles later..

nimmi could have become more memorable actresses(like madhubala,meena,nargis etc),if her film love n god wud have happened at right time..and if umrao jaan wud have completed..and refusing sadhana was also a mistake(ofcourse i too think vyajaythimala was perfect,but one cant ignore this that b r chopra was seeing his heroin in nimmi first)

Leela Chitnis
Born in 1912 in Karnataka, Chitnis was closely associated with Marathi stage before she joined films as a junior artist. Her first role as a leading lady was in Master Vinayak’s Hindi melodrama ‘Chhaya’ in 1936 in which she played the title role. In ‘Kangan’ (1939), the first of the superhit films with Ashok Kumar, Chitnis was cast as the stereotypical village belle who pines for her beloved amidst great villainous hurdles. Her subsequent films with Ashok Kumar, ‘Bandhan’ (1940) and ‘Jhoola’ (1941), were also major successes. After a brief innings at the top, Chitnis switched to playing the role of mother in 1948 with the patriotic film ‘Shaheed’ in which she was cast as Dilip Kumar’s mother.She even directed a film Aaj Ki Baat .She later played Dilip Kumar’s mother again in the superhit ‘Ganga Jamuna,’ and also Dev Anand’s mother in two evergreen films, ‘Hum Dono’ and ‘Guide.’ She also directed a film, ‘Aaj Ki Baat,’ in 1955.Her image of the screen mother later adopted by other actresses like Sulochana and Nirupa Roy.Her last appearance was in the Kamal Haasan-starrer ‘Dil Tujhko Diya’ in 1985. Thereafter, she migrated to the United States, to be with her children, where she died in 90s.


She was the first Indian Brand Ambassedor of Lux soap, in 1941,She got Filmfare Nomination for film Sadhana in Supporting role.

Her Performances-Chhaya (Master Vinayak), Kangan,Jhoola,Azad,Bandhan (all with Ashok Kumar),Aaj Ki Baat(Ajit,Manmohan Krishna),Shaheed(Dalip K,Kamini K)Awara(Raj Kapoor,Nargis),Sadhana(Sunil Dutt,Vyjayntimala),Ganga Jamuna(Dalip K,Vyajantimala,Nasir Khan)Hum Dono(Dev,Nanda,Sadhana),Guide(Dev,Wahida) etc.

She is Shanta Apte.