Golden Era of Bollywood: Nanda- One of the highest paid actresses of her time.

Nanda, who has done some unforgettable work in Bollywood and has given films like like Hum Dono, ‘Dhool Ka Phool’, ‘Dulhan’, ‘Bhabhi’, ‘Jab Jab Phool Khile’, ‘Gumnaam’, ‘Shor’, ‘Parineeta’, and ‘Prem Rog’ was one of the highest paid actresses of her time. She was the second highest paid Hindi actress along-with Nutan from 1960-1965 and second highest paid Hindi actress in 1966-1969 along-with Nutan and Waheeda
She was born on 8th Jan1939 at Kolhapur. Maharashtra.She was eight years old when her father died.She became a child actress, helping her family by working in films.She made her debut with Mandir in 1948.she was a child actor from 1948 to 1956. She was first recognized as "Baby Nanda". In the films like Mandir, Jaggu, Angaarey, and Jagriti.

It was the renowned film producer-director V. Shantaram who was her maternal uncle gave Nanda a big break by casting her in a successful brother-sister saga; Toofan Aur Diya (1956).She played supporting roles initially, She received her first Filmfare Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress for Bhabhi(1957). She played second lead in Dhool Ka Phoo and was in Kala Bazar as Dev Anand'sister.

She became a lead heroine with the 1959 film Chhoti Behen,The movie was a big hit, making her a star.She then played lead roles, such as one of Dev Anand's heroines in Hum Dono (1961) and Teen Deviyan. Both films were acclaimed as hits.

She was the heroine in B.R. Chopra's Kanoon (1960), She signed eight films with Shashi Kapoor at a time when he was yet to become successful in Hindi Cinema. Their earlier two films Char Diwari (1961) and Mehndi Lagi Mere Haath (1962) were flop but she continued to work with him till Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965) released.The film was a hit,she played a westernised role for the first time and it helped her image.They became a successful screen pair.They gave many hit films like Mohabbat Isko Kahete Hain (1965),Neend Hamari Khwab Tumhare (1966), Raja Saab (1969) and Rootha Na Karo (1970).

The year 1965 was lucky year for her,she gave hit films like Gumnam and Teen Deviyan beside Jab Jab Phool Khile.
She signed with new leading man Rajesh Khanna in the songless suspense thriller Ittefaq (1969), for which she received a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress and which became successful at the box office. After Khanna became a super-star, he signed two more films with her; the thriller The Train (1970) and the comedy Joroo Ka Ghulam (1972) which became hits. Jeetendra, too, had some hit films with her such as Parivar and Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke, with Sanjay Khan, she had a hit in Beti and Abhilasha,

She did a small role in Manoj Kumar's Shor (1972), Nanda did a few more critically acclaimed films such as Chhalia (1973) and Naya Nasha (1974), which flopped, and she then stopped acting. In 1982, she came back with three successful films, all coincidentally having her play Padmini Kolhapure's mother in Ahista Ahista, Mazdoor and Raj Kapoor's Prem Rog. Then she permanently retired.In 1992, a middle-aged Nanda became engaged to director Manmohan Desai at the urging of Rehman. But he died before they get married.
Nanda remained un married till she died.She died in Mumbai on 25 March 2014 at her Versova residence, aged 75, following a heart attack.