Nostalgia......yesteryear Actresses

Is the woman in white Priya? Ewwwww! I wanna shake the hands of those 2 outstanding gentlemen 4 performing a public service.

Your chronic obstructive pulmonary withstanding, step-up, perform 1 y dont you?

let me know abt sardar akhtar,if she was the same actress who played jhansi ki rani..

Sardar Akhtar was the heroine of Mehboob in AURAT (1939) and later married him. Mehtab was the heroine of Sohrab Modi's JHANSI KI RANI (1952). She also married Sohrab Modi. Incidentally, despite being fully in colour in the fifties, the film was a huge flop. The loss that was caused to Sohrab Modi was such that he never resurfaced again. He had to even sell off the last piece of property, namely, MINERVA THEATRE located in Grant Road Area of Bombay.

NASIR.

i thought it was hit,even i thought that why these actresses could not make it big,i guess sardar akhtar was a star actress

well as i noticed something u guys seems to be journlist or related to film industry..
but i m not,infact i guess i might be younger(22) among u all..thanks for information

Aurat (1940) was one of the last movies of Sardar Akhtar. She appeared
a little bulky in this movie. Aurat was remade by Mehboob with
the name Mother India and the same role was played by Nargis.
Sudrendra and Yakub played the roles which Rajinder Kumar and
Sunil Dutt played respectively. Jyoti (Actress Nimmi's mausi) played the
romantic role with Surendra.

Sardar Akhtar had herself sung some of the songs picturised on her.

Sardar Akhtar (1915 - 1984)

Filmpgraphy:

Jai Mata Di (1977)
Bandhe Haath (1973)
Hulchul (1971)
Jalsaghar (1958) .... Singer
... aka The Music Room
Rahat (1945)
Fashion (1943)
Duniya Ek Tamasha (1942)
Ghar Sansar (1942)
... aka Homelife (International: English title)
Phir Milenge (1942)
Uljhan (1942)
... aka The Dilemma
Aasra (1941)
Nai Roshni (1941)
Alibaba (1940/I)
Aurat (1940) .... Radha
... aka Woman
Bharosa (1940) .... Shobha
Pooja (1940) .... Rama
Pukar (1939) .... Washerwoman
Poornima (1938)
... aka Purnima (India: Hindi title: alternative transliteration)
State Express (1938)
Bismil Ki Arzoo (1937)
His Highness (1937)
Khwab Ki Duniya (1937)
... aka Dreamland
Karodpati (1936)
... aka Millionaire (India: English title)
... aka The Millionaire (India: English title)
Piya Ki Jogan (1936)
... aka My Beloved Renunciation
... aka Purchased Bride
Pratima (1936)
... aka Prem Murti
... aka The Idol of Love
Prem Bandhan (1936)
... aka Victim of Love (India: English title)
Sangdil Samaj (1936)
... aka Stone-hearted Society
Sher Ka Panja (1936)
Delhi Express (1935)
Dharma Ki Devi (1935)
... aka Religious Woman
Dhoop Chhaon (1935) .... Stage kallo ki ma
Farebi Duniya (1935)
... aka Mysterious Man (India: English title)
... aka This False World
Misar Ka Khazana (1935)
Shah Behram (1935)
Ajamil (1934)
Dilara (1934)
Gaafil Musafir (1934)
... aka Careless Traveller
Hothal Padmini (1934)
Jaan Nissar (1934)
Johar-E-Shamsheer (1934)
... aka The Feats of the Sword
Talismi Talwar (1934)
... aka Chamakti Shamsheer
... aka Flashing Sword
... aka Saif-E-Sulemani
... aka The Magic Sword
... aka Tilasmi Talwar
Husn Ka Gulam (1933)
Malati Madhav (1933)
Naqsh-E-Sulemani (1933)
Roop Basant (1933)
Idd Ka Chand (1932)


NADIRA (5 December,1932 - 9 February,2006)



Veteran film actress Nadira passed away in Mumbai on 9th February, 2006 after a prolonged illness. Even if she had played no other role other than the scheming Maya in Raj Kapoor’s masterpiece Shree 420 (1955), she would always remain the Mud Mudke Na Dekh girl trying to entice the naïve hero into crime!

Nadira was born a Jew, Farhat Ezekia in Nagpada, Mumbai. Her parents split up when she was just four. Her mother got remarried and Nadira and her brother were brought up by her grandmother.






She was still in her teens when she was spotted by Sardar Akhtar, the great filmmaker Mehoob Khan’s wife. After convincing her mother, Sardar Akhtar took Nadira under her wing and groomed her. Nadira recalled in an interview…

“She bought me my first bra. I did not know the use of the garment till then. She gave me my screen name Nadira as Farhat was thought to be too soft. My first saree was a gift from her, so was my first tube of paint. She taught me to put on make up. I still have that tube which I use each time I start something new.”

When Nargis turned down the lead role in mentor Mehboob Khan’s Aan (1952), Nadira was cast in her place as a haughty princess and introduced opposite Dilip Kumar in this spectacular take on Taming of the Shrew also co-starring Nimmi and Premnath. Aan, Mehboob’s first film in colour, even had a release in London and was much appreciated even though a critic did quip - it goes aan and aan and aan! Nadira was now a star.

At this juncture just when things were starting to look up for her, Nadira married film lyricist Naqshab. Naqshab made her break her contract with Mehboob Khan and with her earnings made films like Nagma and Raftaar exploiting her star status but basically to move himself further. Nadira walked out of the marriage leaving behind all her money and rented a suite in Marine Drive and continued working!



It was Raj Kapoor who then used Nadira to stunning effect in what was to become her signature role in Shree 420 but which also proved to be almost a death knell in her career. Then still a leading lady, the film cast her against type as the cigarette smoking vamp who with her arched eyebrows seduces the hero to a glamorous and crooked lifestyle to such strong effect (she has never acted or looked better!) that she stole a march over both Raj Kapoor and Nargis in the film and thereafter was only offered negative roles! She refused most of them still wanting to play the heroine only to find few offers now forthcoming. The negative roles she refused were then offered to Shashikala making a big star out of the latter thus making Nadira lose out in the vamp department as well. But films like Shree 420 and Pocketmaar (1956) with Dev Anand prove that there when Nadira was up to her scheming vamping antics or seducing the hero through songs like Mud Mudke Na Dekh or Duniyake Saath Chal Pyaare, she had no equal!

When Vyjayantimala turned down the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for her turn as Chandramukhi in Bimal Roy’s Devdas (1955) arguing that both Paro and Chandramukhi were in fact leading roles, the award was offered to Nadira for Shree 420. She sensibly turned it down saying she would win the award on merit or not at all but never as a hand-me-down.

Nadira tried settling down again but went through a second, disastrous short-lived marriage to an Arab.

Nadira’s other really effective and well-known film was the Kishore Sahu directed and Kamal Amrohi produced Dil Apna Aur Preet Paraayi (1960) co-starring Meena Kumari and Raaj Kumar. Again she came off strongly in the film as the wife of Raaj Kumar, who would stop at nothing to keep her husband though he and Meena Kumari loved each other before his marriage. It was an interesting film in that the ‘vamp’ is the wife trying to make her marriage work while the goody-two shoes heroine really is the other woman but of course the film gives full sympathy to Meena Kumari and Raaj Kumar suffering in unrequited love with Nadira being a shrew in their way.




She did work on and off sometimes with long breaks but always made an impact in the films she did – Chhoti Chhoti Baatein (1965), Pakeezah (1972), Hanste Zakhm (1973), Ishq Ishq Ishq (1974) and especially Julie (1975). In Julie, as the heroine Lakshmi's mother Margaret - an Anglo-Indian housewife who considers herself more English and who keeps her brood together while facing crises with poise, Nadira came up with easily the strongest performance of the film and 20 years after Shree 420, won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress on merit! In fact when not vamping it, even when she played the mother, Nadira was rarely the stereotypical, crying, helpless woman in white. She added rare dignity and spirit to the various roles of the mother, aunt or other older woman roles.

Nadira’s other films include Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), Saagar (1985) – again making a very strong impression, Tamanna (1997) and Josh (2000). She also acted in the Ismail Merchant directed Cotton Mary (1999) and the Television Serials Thoda sa Aasmaan and Margarita.

movie aurat (1940)

SARDAR AKHTAR







SURENDRA AND JYOTI



SURENDRA

Reeth i am posting this article on Waheeda Rehman

Today,Waheeda Rehman is a successful entrepreneur, The Bimal Roy Memorial Committee recently felicitated Rehman for her outstanding contribution to Indian cinema.
Well, all we can say is, she is one of the rare actresses with a perfect sense of timing.
Waheeda Rehman : The Star After years of life in the limelight, Waheeda Rahman seems to have finally found her font of peace in her home by the sea-shore. She tells Priya Pathiyan of life after her glory days, her wanderlust and her passion for photography I lost my husband only three months ago, and Ive been very busy with all the paperwork and other arrangements, she says matter-of-factly, the depth of her bereavement only evident in her expressive eyes.
The surrounding silence is overpowering. The throbbing beats of techno from the fishing colony close by, die out at the steps of Sahil. The house that holds a wealth of memories for Waheeda Rahman is as quiet as a mausoleum. And its the one retreat that Waheeda has found in noisy Mumbai. Tucked away on a shoulder of Bandras Bandstand that is surprisingly far from the madding crowds that throng the sea front, Waheedas home for the last two years is serene. Just like the woman. Both have donned the same mantle of cool, venerated antiquity. The house is characterised by high-ceilings, French-windows, wood furniture gleaming with an antique sheen, and cool expanses of tiled floor broken with carefully chosen throws, Chinese screens and objets dart. Waheeda is almost spartan in contrast no traces of make-up, clad in a simple black salwar-kameez. But just as full of grace as her home. She speaks about the ability to express kashvi. Which is, incidentally, also her daughters name. My children motivate me. Kashvi has just returned from her jewellery designing course abroad and my son Sohail is now working in a company after his MBA. But yesteryears heroine is no retired mother-of-two even now. Next month, well start shooting for the Anupam Kher-directed Om Jai Jagdish, which stars Abhishek Bachchan, Anil Kapoor and Fardeen Khan. I play the mother.
The self-confessed practical person is just as blasi about the breakfast cereal venture that she started 11 years ago, while in Bangalore. My kids were at boarding school in Kodai. My friend Ashrafa Sattar and I, went into partnership to market breakfast cereals. Even now, although I dont live there permanently any more, I often visit my farmhouse near Bangalore, she says, confessing that she misses the healthy, happy life that she lived in the garden city. My husband loved nature as much as I, she reminisces.
Something that not many of her fans may be aware of, is her abiding love for photography, I love to take pictures of animals and one place that Ive always wanted to visit is Africa, mainly for its national parks. Travel excites her, and while she speaks of faraway places, she reveals an animation that her beatific face is otherwise devoid of. This trip to Tokyo for the Guru Dutt commemorative along with Johnny Walker that came up suddenly, was a pleasant surprise, she lights up. And it seems to mean as much to her as the honours being conferred on her this year by the Bimal Roy Memorial Committee, which is not only dedicating this years event to her, but also screening some of her films. Ask her which roles shes proud of having done and she lists: Guide, Mujhe Jeene Do, Khamoshi, Teesri Kasam..., but like all artistes, even I always feel that I could have done each of them better. If only I had done this, or that..

Somebody should write on her. She along with Maharani Gayatri Devi were
named as the most beautiful women by the vogue magazine.
Known for the role of Sylvia played by her. To recapitulate, the movie
was based on famous Nanavati trial case. The case changed the
lives of two young and raw advocates who were non-entities by then.
One was Shri Y.V. Chandrachud, the public prosecutor, who later
on became the Chief Justice of India. On the other side was
naive and dynamic Ram Jethmalani. This case also changed
the system of trials in India. With this case the jury system was
abolished.

Any one on this beauty. A Miss India during 50s.

That's Leela Naidu , the star of films like Anuradha and Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke.

She was also the (ex) wife of Anglo-Indian writer Dom Moraes.

Sunil Dutt's Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke was based on the Nanavati trial.

Here are some more pictures of her:








A still from the Merchant-Ivory production The Householder where she starred opposite Shashi Kapoor.

Noorie

we are not goin in right way,anyways its all up to me
i wanted to cover actresses of 50s first

LEELA NAIDU:

Leela Naidu was the daughter of the well known nclear physicst Ramaiah Naidu from Andhra Pradesh while her mother was of Irish origin.

To mention just a couple of her movies, she starred opposite Pradeep Kumar in BAGHI (1964). Her earlier movie ANURADHA (1960) where Pandit Ravi Shankar provided the music, had some very “Sitaric” songs of Lata such as SANVRE, SANVRE, and JAANE KAISE SAPNON MEIN KHO GAYIN ANKHAIYAA.N.

YEH RAASTE HAIN PYAAR KE was released sometimes in 1963 at the Bombay’s Maratha Mandir Cinema. Despite the well-known story of Crime of Passion ( of Nanavati who killed Ahuja who was involved with former's wife) the movie did not do well. Perhaps it was because it really failed to capture the passion ingrained in the real-life story. Ravi provided some good songs there: a duet of Rafi-Asha: YEH KHAAMOSHIYAN…. And Rafi’s: TUM JIS PE NAZAR DAALO…are well-known. The title-song was by Asha. As has been pointed out by Mr. Mahesh, the trial of Nanavati sealed the fate of Indian Jury System in India.

Leela Naidu was a statuesque beauty but could not last in Bollywood for one reason or the other. She had also been considered for the lead role in GUIDE. In 1954, Leela Naidu was selected Femini’s Miss India.

NASIR.

An untrained singer when she entered films, she studied briefly with Ustad Allah Rakha in Lucknow. She was employed as a singer at Megaphone Gramaphone Company receiving further training from Bhishmadev Chatterjee. Born Kananbala in 1916, she made her debut as a child actress with Joydev (1926). She later worked in P.C Barua s Mukti and this film made her a star and led to a fruitful association with New Theatres. The success of Bidyapati (Bengali)/ Vidyapati /(Hindi) (1937) in which she gave perhaps her finest performance, made her the studio's top star. Kanan Devi remained the top star of New Theatres till she resigned in 1941 and began to freelance in Hindi and Bengali films.

Kanan Devi turned producer with Shrimati Pics in 1949 and later launched the Sabhyasachi collective with the film Ananya (1949). Her own productions were mainly based on Sarat Chandra stories and were directed by her husband Haridas Bhattacharya. Kanan Devi's last film was Indranath Srikanta-o-Annadadidi (1959). She wrote an autobiography Sabare Ami Nomi (1973) and in 1977, Kanan Devi, the first lady of the Hindi and Bengal screen was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke award for her contribution to Indian Cinema. She also worked as President of the Mahila Shilpi Mahal, an organization that helps aged and needy female artistes of yesteryear.She passed away in 1992.

Her Performances-Jaidev(Patience Cooper),Vidyapati,Mukti(P.C Barua),Anyana,Sapera(Prithvi RK),Lagan(K L Sehgal),Jawani Ki Reet(with Jagdish Sethi),Krishna Leela(Pradeep Kumar) etc.


apart from these actresses there were Rajkumari,Jamuna(both were part of K L Sehgal starrer Devdas),Sardar Akhtar,Madhuri etc were other reknown actresses of 30s.
Sitara Devi was also a succesful actress of that era(Her name was mentioned in 2001 s blockbuster Gadar ek prem katha).

Meenakashi Shirodkar(Grandmother of Shilpa and Namarta Shirodkar),Shanta Apte and Hansa Wadkar(70s film Bhumika starring Smita Patel was based on her life) were reknown actresses of Marathi films,but they did Hindi films too.



Jaishree(wife of V.Shantaram),Sadhana Bose and Begum Akhtar also did some meaningful films.Sadhana Bose was also Lux Soap Face,its believed that She is reborn as Shahrukh Khan,but she was died after Shahrukh Khan's birth.Sulochana also got success in Mythological Films,later she became reknown supporting actresses of 60s and 70s films.