Golden Era of Bollywood: Nargis Dutt- Her love story was nothing less than a fairytale.

Nargis and Sunil Dutt came from very different backgrounds when they first met each other. Nargis was the daughter of Mohan Babu and Jaddanbai, and Sunil was the son of a Punjabi land-owning family. The two actors met on the sets of Do Bigha Zameen. At that time, Sunil Dutt was an aspiring actor and student while Nargis was already an established star.
Sunil and Nargis Dutt crossed each other’s paths at many film gatherings but were officially introduced to each other on the sets of their film Mother India by filmmaker Mehboob Khan. Khan thought it was important for Nargis, who played the title role in the film, to befriend the other actors, particularly Sunil Dutt, who played her errant son Birju.

Everyone is aware of their dramatic love story that was triggered by a fatal fire on the sets of Mother India in 1957, where Sunil Dutt sensing danger, jumped into raging flames without a thought for his own life to save Nargis and won her heart. She visited him every day at the hospital after shooting. She nursed Dutt back to health for two weeks. In that time, the two got very close, and she even opened up about her past to him. and a few weeks later, when Sunil Dutt proposed marriage to her, she agreed immediately.
The two started dating, and wanted to get married, but they played mother and son on screen in Mother India, and the news of their relationship would be disastrous for the film, so they maintained a low profile. In 1958, they got married in a secret ceremony and didn't make the news public for nearly a year. Even after getting married, they stayed with their respective families. They'd meet late into the nights and communicate through letters and telegrams. In 1959, after making the news of their marriage public, they held a reception, and moved in together.
Sunil Dutt was once asked about Raj Kapoor and Nargis' equation, to which he had said, "I never knew there was a romance. The only thing I knew was that she came into my life. I was not concerned about her past. I know these questions arise. But I am concerned about the person who comes in my life; what matters from that day on is how true the person is to me. The past is nothing to me."
Nargis left films to look after Dutt saheb.The mother of 3 – Priya, Namrata and Sanjay Dutt, Nargis took up the full time job of being a mom and gave up stardom while she was at the peak of her career. She was the one with a modern approach and yet juggled her life amidst the work part, where she was involved in her husband’s production venture and also formed Ajanta Arts Cultural Troupe.

Despite the threshold of responsibilities, she was very much active in her individual self which included swimming, watching movies, shopping, getting a massage and constantly being on the phone. She also ditched the burqa and would enjoy paani puri from the street vendors. Yes, she was very much like the young girl inside every woman.Nargis never followed the bandwagon of her contemporaries and was always in sync with global fashion trends. She sported a short haircut when others would go for their long tresses. She ditched jewellery and wore only cotton saris for which she was dubbed as the Lady in White.

Sunil Dutt was not the first love of Nargis, but their years of marriage never once fell in doubt about Dutt being her second love. Nargis and Sunil Dutt loved each other and supported each other during their marriage.Their love was pure and forever.

Years later, Nargis was detected with cancer, and went through a lot of treatments for many years. Sunil was always by her side during her struggle. He even took her to America for the treatment. However, she could not win her battle against cancer and died on May 3, 1981.