Nimmi – Graceful Bollywood heroine of 1950s

Nawab Banoo (1933 – 2020), popularly known as Nimmi was one of the top heroines of Bollywood cinema in the 1950s. This graceful heroine has worked with almost all lead actors of 1950s, and owns many hit films and hit songs filmed on her, to her credit. One of the early female stars of Bollywood, her performance in Barsaat (1949), Sazaa (1951), Deedar (1951), Daag (1952), Aan (1952), Aandhiyan (1952), Amar (1954), Kundan (1955), Uran Khatola (1955), Bhai-Bhai (1956), Basant Bahar (1956), Pooja Ke Phool (1964) etc were widely appreciated.

Apart from village-belle roles which were quite common in the 1950s, she also did glamorous roles, and her expressive eyes with an underlying eroticism, is believed to be the trademark ‘Nimmi’ style. Though she never belonged to the main league of actresses of 1950s, just like her contemporaries, Nargis, Meena Kumari, Nutan and Madhubala (all of them belonging to either ‘N’ or ‘M’ tag) she created a niche of her own in the brief screen space she received for almost one decade, sharing screen space with all lead heroes of the glorious era.

Her family had close ties with ace director Mehboob Khan and his family

Nimmi hailed from Agra. Her mother Wahidan was a courtesan, a singer and an actress. Her estranged father was as a military contractor who worked in Meerut. Her family is linked to cine world, and her mother and aunt have worked in films in the 1930s. She lost her mother at the age of 9 and moved to her maternal grandmother’s home at Abbottabad near Rawalpindi. After Indian partition, she along with her grandmother moved to Mumbai and got settled there. They stayed with her maternal aunt Jyoti, who was an actress. Reportedly she learnt Urdu and English at home, and never attended school.

Barsaat (1949) marked her impressive debut in Bollywood at the age of 16

Since young she was interested in acting. Knowing about this, Mehboob Khan invited her to his studio where the movie, Andaz was shot. In the film set, she met Raj Kapoor who was a budding actor then. He had already casted Nargis for the lead role and was in search of a young girl to play second lead. He offered her the second lead in Barsaat (1949), which she accepted. She was a guest visitor of the studio, but that visit proved to be a turning point of her life.

She was paired with Premnath, and her impressive role as an innocent mountain shepherdess earned her accolades. The movie also included some of the super hit songs filmed on her, and it helped her to came into prominence become a star overnight. The title track, Barsaat Mein Hum Se Mile Tum was one among those. She was rechristened as Nimmi by Raj Kapoor at that time.

Post Barsaat’s success she rose to stardom

Though she played second lead in the film, her character left deep impression in the minds of audience, and she started receiving more offers. She was paired with Raj Kapoor for Banwara, and with Dev Anand for Sazaa and Aandhiyan. She also worked with Dilip Kumar in Deedar and Daag. Thus she got opportunity to work with the trio stars of Bollywood, which gave her immense popularity among masses.

She played one of the female leads of Mehboob Khan’s Aan, and enjoyed her career peak in the first half of 1950s. Her role as village belle Mangala left a lasting impression on viewers mind. He offered her the second lead role in his next flick, Amar. She shared screen space with Dilip Kumar and Madhubala in the movie. Her role as a rape survivor was not easy to accept by other heroines, when Indian society was more conservative. Though the movie was way ahead of times, it was a commercial failure. She started her production house, and Danka (1954) was the first movie produced in this banner. This movie starring Nimmi went unnoticed.

She played the double role of mother and daughter in Kundan (1955), co-starring Sunil Dutt, followed by Uran Khatola aside Dilip Kumar which was a commercial hit. It was her last movie aside Kumar. It was followed by the commercial success of Basant Bahar and Bhai-Bhai in the second half of 1950s. She turned selective after that, and also worked with award winning directors for the movies, Angulimal, Char Dil Char Rahen, Anjali etc. In many movies she played second fiddle, but created a niche of her own, mostly playing ill-fated lover or village belle. She turned seductive in many of her film roles. 

Nimmi’s career started declining with the early 1960s

She ruled the roost in the black & white era of 1950s. But with the arrival of new heroines in the early 1960s like Saira Banu, Sharmila Tagore, Sadhana, Asha Parekh etc, her career started declining. She also accepted a few sister roles later. Her much anticipated project, ‘Love & God’ also got shelved with director K. Asif’s death. She was initially paired with Guru Dutt for the movie, and after his death, the scenes were reshot with Sanjeev Kumar. The project got shelved and Kumar also died before it could be completed. Later it was released in incomplete form.

She married filmmaker S. Ali Raza in 1965 and got settled with her family life. Akashdeep was also released the same year. Except the delayed release Love & God, Akashdeep was her last theatre release. Her husband passed away in 2007. Though she remained one of the top actresses of 1950s, she fully stayed away from limelight during her last years. She passed away on March 25, 2020 in Mumbai after prolonged illness. On February 18 she celebrated her 87^th birthday with her family, a few days before her death. With her demise, a living legend representing the classic era of Bollywood too fades away forever, without a return. She is one among those rare artists of Indian cinema, who worked in the 1940s & 1950s, and survived till the beginning of new decade of 2020s. As corona virus was destructing the whole world that time, only a few people attended the funeral.

Nimmi – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. Her real name is Nawab Banoo. “Nawab” was given by her grandfather, and then her grandmother added “Banoo” to it.

2. Her family had good relationship with Bollywood director Mehboob Khan and his family. Later he gave Nimmi memorable roles in Aan, Amar etc.

3. Nimmi was married to noted film director and screen writer S. Ali Raza, nephew of Aghajani Kashmeri. Her co-star Mukri and hair dresser acted as cupids, subsequently their parents met and they had an arranged marriage. She developed interest in Shayari (poetry) after meeting with Raza, and it’s also said that Raza helped her in rehearsing dialogues, which later developed into bonding. 

4. Her maternal aunt Jyoti was married to G. M. Durrani, famous music composer, actor and singer of yesterdays. After migrating to Mumbai following partition, she stayed with her aunt.

5. She starred in K. Asif’s ‘Love & God’ (also known as “Kais Aur Laila“) in lead role. Originally started in year 1963, the movie had a theatre release in 1986 after 23 years, in an incomplete form. The director is also known for his masterpiece, Mughal-e-Azam (1960) which also took long years in making, but had a fine end.

6. Nimmi starring ‘Aan’ was one of the early Indian movies to have a world wide release. The English version was entitled Savage Princess. Aan was India’s first technicolour release and the first Bollywood release to be subtitled in 17 languages, and got release in 28 countries.

7. She played one of the female leads of Mehboob Khan’s Aan. Owning to her popularity those days, film distributors objected to her character dying on screen too early, and later a dream sequence was shot and added to the movie to give her more screen presence.

8. During the international release and screening of ‘Aan’ in London, she pulled away her hand from Errol Flynn when he tried to kiss her, exclaiming, “I am an Indian girl, and you cannot do that!”  This incident made big headlines those days and she was given the title, “The unkissed girl of India” by media of UK.

9. During London premiere of Aan, she received 4 offers from Hollywood. However she chose to continue with her well-established career in Hindi movies. She was also afraid if she would be asked to do intimate scenes.

10. Madhubala was initially offered a dual role of female leads in Amar. While she accepted educated girl’s role she rejected the rape victim’s role, which was later offered to Nimmi. In the early 1950s in the conservative Indian society, it was not easy to portray a rape victim on screen.

11. She was also a singer and did playback singing for her movie, Bedardi (1951). However she didn’t pursue a career in singing, and concentrated on acting. Bedardi is the single movie for which she recorded songs.

12. She rejected the lead roles in Sadhana and Woh Kaun Thi, which established the careers of Vyjayanthimala and Sadhana Shivdasani in Bollywood. After that she never received such path breaking roles, and she moved on to the next phase of her Bollywood career.

13. She played Rajendra Kumar’s sister’s role in Mere Mehboob, though she was initially offered the lead role. She was adamant to accept the second lead, even after the director Harman Singh Rawal tried to convince her to accept the lead. Film’s success boosted the career of Sadhana, while Nimmi got stuck in second lead and supporting roles, and gradually she faded away from limelight.

14. In the early 1990s some sources claimed that actress Kimi Katkar of ‘Hum’ fame is her daughter, because of their striking face similarities. But there is no solid proof. In real life, she didn’t have any children, and later adapted her sister’s son, who currently lives in London.

Top Bollywood songs filmed on Nimmi

Nimmi owns numerous hit songs during her career. Lata Mangeshkar recorded countless songs Nimmi. Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle etc were other ghost voices. Naushad composed many of her popular songs. Here I list a few of her top Bollywood songs.

1. Barsaat Mein Hum Se Mile Tum from Barsaat
2. Jeeya Bekarar Hai from Barsaat
3. Hawa Mein Udta Jaaye from Barsaat
4. Patli Kamar Hai from Barsaat
5. Ae Mere Dil Kahin Aur Chal from Daag
6. Aaj Mere Mann Mein from Aan
7. Tum Na Jaane from Sazaa
8. Aa Gupchup Gupchup Pyar Karen from Sazaa
9. Na Milta Gham To Barbadi Ke from Amar
10. Title track from Uran Khatola
11. Hamare Dil Se Na Jaana from Uran Khatola
12. Kadar Jaane Na Ho from Bhai Bhai
13. Kaahe Ko Der Lagaayee Re from Daag
14. Is Duniya Mein Sab Chor from Bhai Bhai