Praveen Babi - The Ionic Bollywood Actress with Western Looks

Parveen Babi (4 April 1949 – 20 January 2005), like Zeenat Aman, redefined the image of the Indian film heroine. She started her career as a model and entered into the films with the 1973 film "Charitra" Her first major hit was Majboor (1974), opposite Amitabh Bachchan. Her pairing with Amitabh Bachchan was very successful, she did 8 films with him. Her more memorable roles include "Anita" in Deewaar (1975), "Jenny" in Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), and "Sunita" in Shaan (1980).
One point of time she was the highest-paid actress. Because of her western looks, she was given roles which were glamorous and represented standards of a film star quality and established her status as one of the "Top Heroines of Bollywood" or the "Commercially successful Heroine"
In her acting career, which spanned almost ten years, she has acted in more than fifty films, of which ten were considered to be best. These films were also blockbusters of those times. Her co-stars include Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor, Feroz Khan, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor who were all leading stars of the 1970s and 1980s. Some of the songs picturized on her become hugely popular, and this includes "Jawaani Jaaneman" and "Raat Baaqi Baat Baaqi" in Namak Halaal, "Pyaar Karne Waale" in Shaan and "Maara Thumka" in Kranti, 
At the peak of her career, she left the film industry for a spiritual journey with U. G. Krishnamurti She returned to India after a gap of 6 years.It is said that she was a patient of  paranoid schizophrenia, a mental illness,
In an interview in 1998, she said: "I was born a Muslim and later, I converted to Christianity. But I have never done things I didn't believe. Even when I was a Muslim, I didn't understand why it made me a more spiritual entity, She converted to Christianity during the late 1990s and also started eating pork.
In the 90s, she took up keen interests in music, piano, painting, architecture, literature, writing, cultural and archaeological study, politics, photography, sculpture and human rights issues.
She was found dead on 22 January 2005 after her residential society secretary alerted the police that she had not collected milk and newspapers from her doorstep for three days.

Song of Majboor 1974

Song of Kaala Sona  1975

Song of Bullet 1976

Song of Amar Akbar Anthony 1977

Song of Kaala Patthar 1979

Song of Suhaag 1979

Song of Shaan 1980

Song of Namak Halaal 1981

Song of Namak Halaal 1981

Song of Khuddaar 1982

Song of Kaalia 1982

Song of Mahaan 1983

Meena Kumari was also a playback singer

Meena Kumari (1 August 1933– 31 March 1972) who is known as Tragedy Queen of Bollywood was not only an ace actress but also a singer and a poet. She started her career as a child artist. In an interview given in 1962, Meena Kumari explained that the fact she had been supporting her parents from the age of four gave her immense satisfaction. Director Vijay Bhatt cast her in the film Leatherface and on the first day she was paid Rs. 25.
She appeared in many films as a child artist In 1941 Mehboob Khan took her in his film "Bahen" as a child artist and also got her sing for the first time in the films. As a heroine, she rendered her voice to songs from films like Duniya Ek Sarai (1946), Piya Ghar Aaja (1948), Bichchade Balam (1948) and Pinjre Ke Panchhi (1966). She also sung for Pakeezah (1972), however, the song was not used in the film and was later released in the album Pakeezah-Rang Ba Rang (1977).
In this blog, I am posting the songs Meena Kumari sang for herself.

Song of Bahen 1941

Song of Duniya Ek Sarai (1946)

Song of Piya Ghar Aaja (1948)

Song of  Bichchade Balam (1948)

Song of  Bichchade Balam (1948)

Song of Pinjre Ke Panchhi (1966)

                                               CHAND TANHA HAI AASMAAN TANHA- MEENA KUMARI

Priya Rajvansh - Worked only for Chetan Anand.

Priya Rajvansh acted in only 6 movies in a span of 22 years from 1964 to 1986.  She was introduced to Bollywood by Chetan Anand. Her first film was Haqeeqat released in 1964.  Her next movie Heer Ranjha came 6 yrs later in 1970 which was also a super hit.
Chetan Anand cast her in all his movies, giving her the lead actress roles’ against Raaj Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Dev Anand, and Naveen Nishchal. 
She was born as Veera Sunder Singh in Shimla on 30 Dec 1936. Her schooling and graduation were completed in Shimla. After that, she joined the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London  One of her photographs, clicked by a London photographer, somehow reached the Hindi film industry. A movie maker of that time called Thakur Ranbeer Singh who was also a friend of Chetan Anand brought her to meet Chetan Anand, in 1962 and they cast her in one of their films, Haqeeqat (1964). The film became a hit. 
 Priya Rajvansh was soon in a relationship with her mentor who had recently separated from his wife. Initially, the industry was hesitant to take her because of her anglicized accent and western femininity did not click well with the Indian audience. 
Her next film, Heer Raanjha came out only in 1970, where she acted opposite the rage of that time, actor Raaj Kumar, and the film was a hit. Then came Hanste Zakhm, arguably the finest film of her career, in 1973. Her other noted films were Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973), with Raaj Kumar, and Kudrat (1981), paired opposite Rajesh Khanna, where she had a parallel role with Hema Malini as the lead. She also starred opposite Dev Anand in Saheb Bahadur in 1977. Her last film Haathon Ki Lakeeren came out in 1985, after which she ended her film career.
She was found dead in the bathroom of her bungalow on 27 March 2000. It was Chetan Anand's Ruia Park bungalow in Juhu, Mumbai, India. Police charged Chetan Anand's sons Ketan Anand and Vivek Anand along with their employees Mala Choudhary and Ashok Chinnaswamy with her murder.

Song of Haqeeqat 1964

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Hanste Zakhm 1973

Song of Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973)

Song of Saheb Bahadur 1977

Nimmi - Acted with the Golden Trio of Bollywood

She made her debut in Raj Kapoor’s Barsaat and it was the legendary actor-director, who had given her the screen name of Nimmi. After the super success of Barsaat, she appeared in a string of hit movies in the 50s and early 60s. 
She acted with the top yesteryear stars such as Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, and Raj Kapoor. Some of her memorable movies included Sazaa(1951), Mehboob Khan’s Aan (1952), Daag (1952), Amar (1954), Uran Khatola (1955), Basant Bahar (1956) and Mere Mehboob (1963).
Her original name was Nawab Banoo, her mother was a courtesan, a singer and an actress, known as Wahidan. Her father, Abdul Hakim, worked as a military contractor in Meerut U.P.Nimmi was born on 18th Feb 1933 in Agra. Her mother died when she was only eleven years old. Nimmi was therefore sent to live in Abbottabad near Rawalpindi with her maternal grandmother. The partition of India happened in 1947, and Abbottabad fell in Pakistan. Nimmi's grandmother moved to Bombay.
The famous filmmaker Mehboob Khan who was known to her mother once invited the young Nimmi to watch the making of his current production Andaz at Central Studios where Raj Kapoor met her for the first time. Raj Kapoor was looking for the second lead actress for his film Barsaat opposite Premnath,he offered her that role. Nimmi accepted that role. She played the role of an innocent mountain shepherdess in love with a heartless city man. Barsaat, released in 1949, made movie history. It was a phenomenal critical and commercial success. Despite the presence of Nargis, Raj Kapoor, and Premnath, Nimmi had a very prominent and well-received role and was an instant hit with audiences.
In 1950, she appeared in 3 films but none of the films were successful, in 1951 her film Sazaa with Dev Anand and Deedar with Dilip Kumar released consolidated her position as the second lead role actress.
Besides Nargis with whom she co-starred in Barsaat and Deedar, Nimmi also appeared alongside many notable leading ladies including Madhubala (Amar), Suraiya (Shama), Geeta Bali (Usha Kiran), and Meena Kumari (Char Dil Char Rahen (1959). Nimmi was also a singer and sang her own songs in the film Bedardi (1951) in which she also acted. However, she never continued singing and recorded songs only for this film.
Mehboob Khan cast her opposite Dilip Kumar in Aan(1952). The film was made with an extremely large budget and was a great hit. It was one of the first Indian movies to have a worldwide release. The film had an extremely lavish London premiere which Nimmi attended. 
After the great box-office success of Aan, Mehboob Khan asked her to appear in his next film Amar (1954). Nimmi played a poor, milkmaid seduced by a lawyer (Dilip Kumar). The film also starred Madhubala as Kumar's wronged fiancée. The film was not a commercial success, Nimmi's intense performance and the film were applauded by critics.
 In Uran Khatola (1955), her last of five films with Dilip Kumar, she starred in one of the biggest box-office successes of her career. In 1956 too she had 2 hit films. Basant Bahar opposite Bharat Bhushan and Bhai Bhai opposite Ashok Kumar and Kishor Kumar. She received the critic's award for best actress for her role in Bhai Bhai
In the late 1950s, Nimmi worked with renowned directors Chetan Anand (Anjali ), K. A. Abbas (Char Dil Char Rahen) and Vijay Bhatt (Angulimala). Prepared to take risks, Nimmi took on controversial characterizations, such as the prostitute of Char Dil Char Raahen (1959). It was during this phase that Nimmi became very selective as she strove for better quality projects and roles. 
She married in 1960 and decided to quit films but at this time K Asif signed her in Love & God even before completing his magnum opus Mughal-e-Azam.The film was shelved altogether when the director K. Asif died.It was later released on 6 June 1986 by that time Nimmi was retired for over 2 decades.
Nimmi died on 25th March 2020 in Bombay  She was 87 years old and had been in and out of the hospital for quite some time. 

Song of Barsaat 1949

Song of Sazaa 1951

Song of Aan 1952

Song of Amar 1954

Song of Udan Khatola 1955

Song of Basant Bahar 1956

Song of  Bhai Bhai  1956

Nanda: Her popular songs

Nanda(8 January 1939 – 25 March 2014) started her career in films as a child artist. It was her father who took her in his film Mandir (1948). While making the film her father expired, the film was completed by Dinakar Patil. After her father's untimely death, she decided to do films besides attending the school. First, she did Jaggu (1952) as a child artist in which Shyama was playing the heroine. In 1954 she did Jagadguru Shankaracharya. In the same year, she did Angaray directed by K.B. Lal that starred Nargis and Nasir Khan 
V Shantaram took her as a leading actress in her film Toofan Aur Diya released in 1956. But after that, she was offered roles of sister or side roles in many films. Dev Anand took her in his sister's role in Navketan's Kala Bazarin 1960 with a promise he would cast her heroine in his next film. It was in Hum Dono released in 1961, she was one of the heroines in that film.
After Hum Donobig banners started approaching her with good offers. Nanda went on to rule the screen space from 1960 till 1973 with Nutan, Waheeda Rehman, and Sadhna. Some of her most memorable roles were in 'Jab Jab Phool Khile', 'Gumnaam' and 'Hum Dono'.She was once again one of the heroines in Dev Anand's Teen Deviyan.
In 'Jab Jab Phool Khile', Nanda played her career's first westernized role and paired up with Shashi Kapoor with whom she went on to do eight films.
She worked with Rajesh Khanna in 'The Train' when he was just starting out as an actor. She also worked with him in Ittefaq and Joru Ka Gulam.
Manoj Kumar took her in Shor released in 1972. She made a brief return to acting in 1982 as a character actress where she played the onscreen mother of Padmini Kolhapure in 'Ahista Ahista', 'Mazdoor' R K Films Prem Rog 
Nanda was nominated for Filmfare Award five times for her performance in Bhabhi (1957), Aanchal (1960), Ittefaq (1969), Ahista Ahista (1981) and Prem Rog (1982). 
She won Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for 'Aanchal' 

Song of Toofan aur Diya 1956

Song of Chhoti Bahen 1959

Song of Dhool Ka Phool 1959

Song of Usne Kaha Tha 1960

Song of Hum Dono 1961

Song of  Mehndi Lagi Mere Haath 1962

Song of  Nartakee 1963

Song of  Aaj Aur Kal 1964

 Song of  Jab Jab Phool Khile 1965 

Song of Teen Deviyan 1965

Song of Gumnaam 1965

Song of Parivar 1967

Song of The Train 1970

Song of Shor 1972

Song of Joroo Ka Ghulam' 1972

A Journey from Baby Mumtaz to Madhubala

Madhubala (14th Feb 1933 – 23 February 1969 ) started acting at the age of seven and made her first film for Bombay Talkies, where she had to sing a song – ‘Mere chhote se man me, chhoti si duniya re’. She was called Baby Mumtaz. She worked as Baby Mumtaz in many films such as Pujari, Phoolwari, and Rajputani.
She was spotted by Kidar Sharma and paired her as heroine opposite Raj Kapoor in Neel Kamal(1947). She was barely 14 years old and he named her Madhubala.
A couple of years later, Kamal Amrohi cast her opposite Ashok Kumar in Mahal and a star was born. She became everyone’s darling and the industry crowned her ‘Venus of the Indian Screen’, She was now the preferred heroine of Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand.

Madhubala as Baby Mumtaz

 Her first film with Dilip Kumar was Tarana. They went on to do three more – Sangdil, Amar and Mughal-e-Azam. The latter was also her last film before she was bedridden. 
With Dev Anand, she worked in 6 films. The first film they did together was" Nirala "released in 1950, the other films were  Aaram (1951), Naadan (1951), Kala Pani (1958), Jaali Note (1960), and Sharabi (1964)
During the career span of 22 years, she appeared in around 73 Hindi films. She worked with all the leading heroes of their time. Madhubala's co-stars Ashok Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Rehman, Pradeep Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt, and Dev Anand were the most popular actors of that period. She also appeared with notable leading ladies such as Kamini Kaushal, Suraiya, Geeta Bali, Nalini Jaywant, Shyama and Nimmi. The directors she worked with, Mehboob Khan (Amar), Guru Dutt (Mr. & Mrs. '55), Kamal Amrohi (Mahal) and K. Asif (Mughal-e-Azam), were amongst the most prolific and respected. Madhubala also became a producer and produced films like Naata (1955) and Mahlon Ke Khwab (1960) and acted in both the films.
Madhubala gave a flamboyant performance in Guru Dutt's satire Mr. & Mrs. '55 (1955). The film revolves around Anita, a wealthy heiress, and a struggling cartoonist, Pritam (Guru Dutt). Mr. & Mrs. '55 has hit songs, "Jaane Kahan Mera Jigar Gaya Jee" (a duet sung by Geeta Dutt and Mohammed Rafi) and "Thandi Hawa Kali Ghata" (sung by Geeta Dutt). Mr. & Mrs. 55 was the fifth highest-grossing film of that year. She also acted in costume dramas such as Shirin-Farhad (1956), Raj-Hath (1956) (both with Pradeep Kumar).^] Dhake Ki Malmal was a romantic musical comedy directed by J.K. Nanda and produced under the Nanda Film banners. The film starred Madhubala and Kishore Kumar together for the first time. Both of them later acted in several popular "musical comedies" such as Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Jhumroo (1961) and Half Ticket (1962).
The love with Dilip Kumar is well known but they couldn't marry. Madhubala met Kishore Kumar during the shooting of Dhake Ki Malmal (1956). In 1960, Madhubala married him when she was 27 years old. When Madhubala was ill in the late 1950s with the congenital heart disease, Kishore Kumar proposed to her and she decided to marry him after realizing that Dilip Kumar was not going to marry her.
Madhubala had a ventricular septal defect (a hole in her heart) In 1969, she was set to make her directorial debut with the film Farz aur Ishq. However, the film was never made, as during pre-production, she died on 23 February 1969, shortly after her 36th birthday. The cause of death was determined to be the prolonged lung and heart illness

Mere chhote se man me -sung by Madhubala as a child in  Basant 1942

Song of Neel Kamal 1947

Song of Mahal 1949

Song of Tarana 1950

Song of Nirala 1950

Song of Mr. & Mrs. '55 (1955)

Song of Kala Pani 1958

Song of Howrah Bridge 1958

Song of Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi 1958

Song of Mughal e Azam 1960

Song of Barsaat Ki Raat 1960