On the birth anniversary of the legendary actress Nutan, we share some rare pictures of the actress.
Nutan was born in a Marathi Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu or CKP family on 4 June 1936 as the eldest of four children to director-poet Kumarsen Samarth and his actress wife Shobhna.
Nutan married Lieutenant-Commander Rajnish Bahl of the Indian Navy on 11 October 1959. Their only son Mohnish, was born in 1961. He went on to become a television and film actor.
Her first big break was Seema, for which she won her first Filmfare Best Actress Award. She followed her success with a romantic comedy, Paying Guest, in which she co-starred with Dev Anand. In 1959 she starred in two hit films, Anari (with Raj Kapoor) and Bimal Roy’s Sujata (with Sunil Dutt). In the 1960s and 1970s she had many more successful films including Chhalia (1960), Saraswatichandra (1968), Devi (1970) and Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki (1978).
Nutan started her career as an actress as a fourteen-year-old in Hamari Beti (1950). This film was produced by her mother, Shobhana.Nutan started her career as an actress as a fourteen-year-old in Hamari Beti (1950). This film was produced by her mother, Shobhana.
In 1960, she starred opposite Raj Kapoor once again in Manmohan Desai’s Chhalia. She received another Filmfare nomination for the role. In a film review at the time, Filmfare wrote: “As the unfortunate girl disowned by her relatives for no fault of hers, Nutan puts over a superb and memorable portrayal.”
She formed a popular screen couple with co-star Dev Anand and the two acted in four films together – Paying Guest (1957), Baarish (1957), Manzil (1960) and Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963).
Nutan, once slapped Sanjeev Kumar in public because in the early stages of his career he was allegedly spreading rumors about “romantic feelings she had for him that he could not reciprocate”.
Nutan died on February 21 1990 after a battle with breast cancer.
Nutan was noted for her willingness to play unconventional roles and several of her roles were labelled “path-breaking”.
