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

The Great Love Triangle Films of Bollywood

After Love Stories, the love triangle is another popular subject of Hindi film lovers. Since its early days' Hindi cinema has showcased love triangles in an ethereal spectrum. The movies with this subject are very common since the 80s onwards, every 3rd movie is a love triangle.
Not many love triangles of the 50s and 60s have a happy ending, however, in Bollywood movies the unthinkable happens, and over the years there have been love triangle movies that have left audiences rather happy than teary-eyed.
Another peculiar feature of the love triangle films was its sad songs and dialogues. The characters portrayed by actors and actresses in love triangle movies often connect with audiences that have experienced a similar phase in their past.

The first great Love Triangle film of Bollywood was Anmol Ghadi released in 1946  directed by Mehboob Khan, starring Surendra, Suraiya and Noor Jehan. 

Andaz After the success of this film, Mehboob Khan made another Love Triangle with Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, and Nargis as Andaz in 1949. At the time of its release, Andaz was the highest-grossing Indian film ever.

Aan This subject was dear to Mehboob Khan, he made another Love triangle with Dilip Kumar, Nimmi, and Premnath in 1952 film Aan which was a technicolor film and was a great hit.

Aar Paar  In 1954 Guru Dutt directed himself in Aar Paar with a love triangle with Shyama and Shakila. Guru Dutt plays Kalu in this film who is a migrant taxi-driver in Mumbai. He has two women who love him and would like to marry him. 

Devdas Another great Love triangle was the 1955 film starring Dilip Kumar, Suchitra Sen, and Vyjayantimala. the film was directed by Bimal Roy. Devdas and Paro were childhood friends.Devdas goes away for some years to live and study in a boarding school. After finishing school, Devdas (Dilip Kumar) returns to his village, Paro (Suchitra Sen) looks forward to their childhood love blossoming into their lifelong journey together in marriage. Devdas meekly seeks his parents' permission to marry Paro, but Devdas' family was against him.In a weak-minded state, Devdas then flees to Calcutta where he meets Chandramukhi (Vyjayanthimala).

Pyaasa 1957 was another great love triangle starring Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, and Mala Sinha. It is also surmised that the story is based on the life of the film's lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi who had a failed affair with poet and writer Amrita Pritam.
Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai was a 1960 film starring  Raaj Kumar, Meena Kumari and Nadira as leads. The film tells the story of a surgeon who is obligated to marry the daughter of a family friend, while he is in love with a colleague nurse, played by Meena Kumari. It is one of the noted acting performances of lead actress Meena Kumari's career.
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam was a 1962 love triangle film produced by Guru Dutt and directed by Abrar Alvi. This was a  friendship between a beautiful lonely wife (Bibi) of an aristocrat (Sahib) and a career-driven low-income part-time servant (Ghulam). The film stars Guru Dutt, Meena Kumari, Rehman, Waheeda Rehman 

Sangam 1964 was another love triangle starring Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, and Vyjantimala. Sundar (Raj Kapoor), Gopal (Rajendra Kumar) and Radha (Vyjayantimala) have been friends since childhood. As they grow into adults, Sundar develops an obsessive romantic attraction to Radha, but she prefers Gopal, who is also in love with her. Yet, as Sundar has confided his feelings for Radha to him, Gopal decides to sacrifice his love for his friend's sake.

Shagird 1967 was a love triangle but with comedy. Professor Brij Mohan Agnihotri (I. S. Johar) is a confirmed bachelor, and he firmly refuses to get married. He has a student named Ramesh (Joy Mukherjee), who considers him his mentor. On a visit to his friend out of town, Brij meets his friend's beautiful daughter, Poonam (Saira Banu), and falls in love with her. Throwing all caution to the winds, he changes his appearance and attempts to conquer Poonam, but he later finds that Punam is attracted to his student, Ramesh. Now the professor has to decide whether to get rid of Ramesh, or to reverse their roles and make him his mentor

Silsila was a 1981 romantic drama film directed by Yash Chopra. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Rekha, Shekhar Malhotra (Shashi Kapoor) and Amit Malhotra (Amitabh Bachchan) lead independent lives. Shekhar is a squadron leader with the Indian Air Force, and Amit is an emerging writer. Shekhar has fallen in love with the lovely Shobha (Jaya Bachchan), while Amit seeks to woo the attractive Chandni (Rekha). Chandni's parents prepare to arrange her wedding to Amit. Both Shekhar and Amit plan to marry at the same time, but Shekhar is killed in air combat against PAF, leaving a pregnant Shobha behind. Taking pity on Shobha, Amit marries her and writes to Chandni to forget him

Saagar is a 1985 film directed by Ramesh Sippy. The film stars Rishi Kapoor, Kamal Haasan, and Dimple Kapadia. Mona (Dimple Kapadia) runs a small restaurant in Goa. Raja (Kamal Haasan), who lives close by, is a good friend. He is in love with her but is unable to profess his feelings. Ravi (Rishi Kapoor) is from a rich industrialist family who moves to Goa from the US. Mona and Ravi fall in love with which Raja knows nothing.

Saajan is a 1991 romantic drama film directed by Lawrence D'Souza and produced by Sudhakar Bokade. It stars Madhuri Dixit, Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan, 

Darr: A Violent Love Story is a 1993 psychological romantic thriller film directed and produced by Yash Chopra The film stars Sunny Deol, Juhi Chawla, and Shah Rukh Khan. Kiran (Juhi Chawla), a beautiful college student, Kiran's boyfriend Sunil (Sunny Deol) is a Navy-Marine Commando. Rahul (Shahrukh Khan), her classmate who has a crush on her. Rahul tries to be friendly with Sunil in order to be closer to Kiran. When Rahul receives the news of Kiran and Sunil's engagement, he tries to shoot and kill Sunil 
Kiran and Sunil get married but Rahul still refuses to give up on Kiran.

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam is a 1999 romantic drama film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.The film stars Aishwarya Rai in the lead role playing the role of a young girl Nandini. The film also stars Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn. The film has been described as a loose adaptation of Maitreyi Devi's Bengali novel Na Hanyate and is based on a love triangle.

Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani- A Film that couldn't be Completed

An unusual pairing was made by the producer and director M L Anand for the Neelkamal Films in 1958. It was signing Kishore Kumar opposite Nargis for the film Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani.
The film, written by Inder Raj Anand, had them both in double roles, in a tale of mistaken identities. The supporting cast included Johnny Walker, Pran, Ulhas, Mukri, Anwar Hussain (Nargis’ brother), Ram Mohan and Minoo Mumtaz with Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri writing the songs, which were composed by Shankar-Jaikishan.

M L Anand had already directed Nargis earlier in Lahore (1949), one of the first films to address the trauma of Partition of the sub-continent, and in Bewafa (1952), where Raj Kapoor played a rare negative role in a love triangle that also co-starred Ashok Kumar.
It is said that 8 songs of the film were recorded in the voices of Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, and Geeta Dutt. The film also made quite some headway in its filming following a major schedule in Shimla. One of the songs, recorded on September 9, 1958, Kaisi Khoob Raat Hai, a light-hearted ditty sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi was all set to be filmed later in Kashmir. But then Nargis got pregnant with her first child, actor Sanjay Dutt. She opted out of the film, leading it to be shelved for good.

The pairing of Nargis and Kishore Kumar never happened. Today, just the film advertisement (the picture accompanying this piece) and a couple of surviving stills with Osianama give us a hint of what might have been…

Rajkumari- The Great Singer of the 40s

Not many of us remember her today but once she was among the topmost singers of Bollywood. She sang for 100 films, till the early 1950s. She is best known for her songs, "Sun Bairi Baalam Sach Bol Re" in Bawre Nain (1950), "Ghabaraa Ke Jo Hum Sar Ko Takraayan" in Mahal (1949) and "Najariya Ki Maari" in Pakeezah (1972).
She was just 10 years old when she recorded her first song for HMV in 1934 and she started her career as a stage artist. Vijay Bhatt and Shankar Bhatt of Prakash Pictures spotted her during one of her shows.
Her first film with them was a Hindi-Gujarati bilingual called Sansar Leela Nayi Duniya. She got important roles in films like Aankh Ka Tara and Turki Sher (1933). She was the heroine in Bhakt Ke Bhagwan and Insaaf Ki Topi (1934).
 She also used to sing for popular music director Lallubhai. He gave music to films starring Rajkumari ji like Nai Duniya, alias Sacred Scandal (1934) (Sansaar Leela in Gujarati version), Laal Chitthi, alias Red Letter (1935), Bombay Mail (1935), Bambai Ki Sethaani (1935) and Shamsheer-e-Arab (1935). 
She sang many duets with G M Durrani. The 1942 film Nai Duniya had many duets of Rajkumari and G M Durrani.
Nai Duniya was a 1942 Bollywood film directed by Abdul Rashid Kardar and starring P. Jairaj, Shobhana Samarth, and Mazhar Khan. Suraiya sang her first song; "Boot Karun Mai Polish, Babu" with Naushad as M.D. in this film.
Rajkumari had a soft and very sweet voice with a small range. She sang quite a few songs with Mukesh. She did not get much opportunity to sing with Mohammed Rafi – mainly because Lata Mangeshkar was a fast upcoming singer at the time. She sang with Noor Jehan in Naukar (1943). She never sang with K. C. Dey, but she did sing songs composed by him, as well as his nephew, Manna Dey.
Rajkumari was married very late in life. Her husband was V.K. Dubey who was from Varanasi where he spent a lot of his time (because he owned a shop there), while she settled in Bombay. He later joined her in Bombay. Rajkumari Dubey died in 2000. Her last song was with R D Burman for the 1977 film Kitab.

Song of Nai Duniya 1942

Song of Nai Duniya 1942

Song of Mahal (1949)

Song of Mahal (1949)

Song of Bawre Nain (1950)

Song of Pakeeza 1972

Song of Kitab 1977

Shashi Kapoor - India’s first global star

Shashi Kapoor(18 March 1938 – 4 December 2017) made his debut as a leading man in the 1961 film Dharmputra. He started as a child artist with his brother Raj Kapoor's directorial Aag (1948). He became global with Merchant Ivory productions The Householder (1963),
The Householder was the first collaboration between producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory, a documentary filmmaker till then. They went on to make nearly forty films together, many of which were written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Shashi Kapoor worked in seven films made under the Merchant–Ivory Productions banner: The Householder, Shakespeare Wallah, Bombay Talkie, Heat and Dust—all directed by James Ivory—and three films by three other directors—The Deceivers, In Custody and Side Streets.
Shooting for the film started in 1961 and was completed in 1963. It was made in two versions, Hindi and English, the latter was picked by Columbia Pictures. It was a huge hit — both with critics and audiences — for a film that was made on a budget of $125,000.
After The Householder, Shashi Kapoor signed their next film, Shakespeare Wallah.It was released in 1965, this was a film about a traveling troupe of actors who perform Shakespeare plays in India. Satyajit Ray gave the music for the film, and Madhur Jaffrey won the Best Actress award (Silver Bear) for 15th Berlin International Film Festival.
Pretty Polly (also known as A Matter of Innocence) was a 1967 British film, directed by Guy Green and based on the short story Pretty Polly Barlow by Noël Coward. It stars Hayley Mills, Shashi Kapoor, Trevor Howard, and Brenda De Banzie.
Bombay Talkie (1970) was the next film Shashi Kapoor did with them. Jeniffer Kapoor, his wife was the heroine of that film. You would be surprised to note that Amitabh Bachchan played a minuscule role in the movie. The music of the film was given by Shankar Jaikishan.
Siddhartha was a 1972 Indo-American film based on the novel of the same name by Hermann Hesse, directed by Conrad Rooks.Shashi played Sidhartha and Simi played Kamla in this film. Simi Garewal's nude scene caused controversy in India. The Indian Censor Board, at that time, did not even permit on-screen kissing in Indian films.
Heat and Dust (1983) was the next film directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant. It stars Greta Scacchi, Shashi Kapoor, and Julie Christie. Heat and Dust was based on the novel written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, which won the Booker Prize in 1975. The screenplay for the film was written by the writer herself. It  was Merchant Ivory's biggest commercial success 
The other films he acted are Sammy And Rosie Get Laid(1987), The Deceivers (1988), In Custody (1993),Jinnah (1998) and Side Streets(1998),

Songs of Bombay Talkie 1970

Songs of Bombay Talkie 1970

Songs of Bombay Talkie 1970

Songs of Bombay Talkie 1970

Songs of Bombay Talkie 1970

Sajan Ki Galiyan - An Incomplete Film of Dev Anand

Sajan Ki Galiyan, 1966. The film, besides Sadhana and Dev Saab, was to be the launchpad of Zaheeda, Nargis’ niece, who later was introduced in Prem Pujari (1970). This was the 3rd film of Dev Anand and Sadhana together after Hum Dono(1961) and Asli Naqli (1962).
The film was to be produced cinematographer Fali Mistry (Guide, Hare Rama Hare Krishna) and to be directed by Raj Khosla,

 If there is one director Sadhana worked with extensively, it was Raj Khosla. The two teamed up for four films – Ek Musafir Ek Hasina (1962) and Khosla’s unforgettable mystery trilogy with the actress – Woh Kaun Thi? (1964), Mera Saaya (1966) and Anita (1967). 
The music of Sajan Ki Galiyan was being composed by Shankar-Jaikishan. Fortunately (or unfortunately as one rues what might have been), two songs from the film can now available on YouTube. One is the deliciously romantic Mohammed Rafi solo, “Humne Jinke Khwab Sajaye” a signature S-J composition written by Hasrat Jaipuri. The other clip is a short scene and a song featuring Dev Saab, Sadhana and Zaheeda – “Hum Khoob Jaante Hai”, sung by Mohammed Rafi, Suman Kalyanpur and Geeta Dutt.

This film was to be made in color. It was the second color film after the Guide for Dev Anand.The clips of the songs of this film are featured in Film Hi Film (1983), which wove scenes from incomplete films into the storyline of an old-time filmmaker (Pran) training newcomers for a film he is making in a bid to recapture his long lost glory. Pran coaches them for the intended movie by showing them various scenes from unfinished films.

Song of Sajan Ki Galiyan

Song of Sajan Ki Galiyan