Nargis
June 1, 1929
Calcutta, West Bengal, British India Died: May 3, 1981 (aged 51)
Bombay, Maharashtra, India Occupation :Actress Years active :1935, 1942 – 1967 Spouse(s) :Sunil Dutt (1958 – 1981) (her death)
Nargis Dutt (Hindi: नर्गिस, Urdu: نرگس) (June 1, 1929 – May 3, 1981), known by her screen name, Nargis,[1] was an Indian film actress. During a career that spanned from the 1940s to the 60s, Nargis appeared in numerous commercially successful as well as critically appreciated films, which made her one of the leading actresses in the history of Hindi cinema. One of her best-known roles was that of Radha in the Academy Award-nominated Mother India (1957), a performance that won her Best Actress trophies at the Filmfare Awards and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. In 1958, Nargis married her Mother India co-star, actor Sunil Dutt, and left the film industry. She would appear infrequently in films during the 60s. Some of her films of this period include the drama Raat Aur Din (1967), for which she got the inaugural National Film Award for Best Actress.
Along with her husband, Nargis formed the Ajanta Arts Cultural Troupe, which roped in several leading actors and singers of the time and held stage shows at border areas.[2] In early 1970s, she became the first patron of Spastics Society of India,[3] and her subsequent work with the organisation brought her recognition as a social worker, and later a Rajya Sabha nomination in 1980.[4]
Nargis died in 1981 of pancreatic cancer, a few days before her son Sanjay Dutt made his film debut in Bollywood. In 1982, the Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Foundation was established in her memory.[5] The award for best feature film on national integration in the annual National Film Awards ceremony is called the Nargis Dutt Award in her honour.[6]
Early life
Nargis was born Fatima Rashid, the daughter of the Allahabad-based Muslim singer, Jaddanbai and a Hindu Mohyal father of Rawalpindi, named Uttamchand Mohanchand.[7] Her only brother, Anwar Hussain, also became a film actor.
Career
Fatima was recruited to the cinema at an early age. She made her first film appearance in the 1935 Talashe Haq when she was six years old, credited as "Baby Nargis". Nargis, her stage name, means "Narcissus", the flower. She was subsequently credited as Nargis in all of her films.
Nargis appeared in numerous movies after her film debut; she won lasting fame for her later, adult, roles, starting with at the age of 14, in Mehboob Khan's Taqdeer in 1943 opposite, Motilal.[4] She starred in many popular Hindi-Urdu movies of the late 1940s and 1950s such as Barsaat (1949), Andaz (1949), Awaara (1951), Deedar (1951), Shree 420 (1955), and Chori Chori (1956). In most of her films she starred alongside Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar.
Her most famous role came in Mehboob Khan's Oscar-nominated rural drama Mother India in 1957. She won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance. After her marriage to Sunil Dutt in 1958, Nargis gave up her film career after her last few film releases to settle down with her family. She made her last film appearance in the 1967 film Raat Aur Din for which she won a National Film Award for Best Actress, the first actress to win in this category. She also received a Filmfare Nomination as Best Actress for this film.
Personal life
Nargis had been romantically linked with Raj Kapoor with whom she was cast in most of her films. However, the rumoured affair did not materialise and Nargis went on to marry actor Sunil Dutt (himself a Mohyal from Jhelum, British India). Reportedly, Dutt had saved her life from a fire accident on the sets of Mother India.[8] The couple married on March 11, 1958 and had three children together: Sanjay, Namrata, and Priya. Sanjay Dutt went onto become a very successful film actor. Namrata married actor Kumar Gaurav, son of veteran actor Rajendra Kumar who had appeared alongside both Nargis and Sunil Dutt in Mother India. Priya became a politician, and since 2005 has been a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha).[8]
Along with her husband, Nargis formed the Ajanta Arts Cultural Troupe, which roped in several leading actors and singers of the time, and performed at remote frontiers to entertain the Indian soldiers; it was the first troupe to perform at Dhaka, after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and the formation of Bangladesh.[2] Later, Nargis worked for the cause of spastic children. She became the first patron of The Spastics Society of India. Her charitable work for the organisation got her recognition as a social worker.[2]
Death
Years later, Nargis was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and underwent treatment for the disease at Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York.[8] Upon her return to India, her condition deteriorated, and she was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. She sank into a coma on May 2, 1981 and passed away on May 3, 1981.[8] Her absence at the premiere of her son's debut film Rocky on May 7, 1981, where one seat was kept vacant for her, was a nationally famous event.[8]
Awards and recognitions
- 1957 - Filmfare Best Actress Award, Mother India
- 1958 - Best Actress at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Mother India
- 1958 - Padma Shri - first film personality to be conferred the award.[4]
- 1968 - National Film Award for Best Actress, Raat Aur Din
- Nargis Dutt was the recipient of the "Urvashy Award", the highest honour that can be conferred on a movie actress in India.[4]
- She was not just the first actress to win the "Karlovy Wary Award", and also nominated to the Rajya Sabha (Upper house of Indian Parliament) (1980-81),[1][9] but fell ill and died during her tenure.[10]
- She had been conferred with a National Award for cinematography for contribution to Indian Cinema.[11]
- On January 8, 2001, Amitabh Bachchan and Nargis Dutt were honoured with the "Best Artists of the Millennium" award by Hero Honda and file magazine "Stardust".[12]
Filmography
- Talashe Haq (1935)
- Tamanna (1942)
- Taqdeer (1943)
- Humayun (1945)
- Bisvi Sadi (1945)
- Nargis (1946)
- Mehandi (1947)
- Mela (1948)
- Anokha Pyar (1948)
- Anjuman (1948)
- Aag (1948)
- Roomal (1949)
- Lahore (1949)
- Darogaji (1949)
- Barsaat (1949)
- Andaz (1949)
- Pyaar (1950)
- Meena Bazaar (1950)
- Khel (1950)
- Jogan (1950)
- Jan Pahchan (1950)
- Chhoti Bhabbi (1950)
- Babul (1950)
- Aadhi Raat (1950)
- Saagar (1951)
- Pyar Ki Baaten (1951)
- Hulchul (1951)
- Deedar (1951)
- Awaara (1951)
- Sheesha (1952)
- Bewafaa (1952)
- Ashiana (1952)
- Anhonee (1952)
- Amber (1952)
- Shikast (1953)
- Paapi (1953)
- Dhoon (1953)
- Aah (1953)
- Angarey (1954)
- Shree 420 (1955)
- Jagte Raho (1956)
- Chori Chori (1956)
- Pardesi (1957 film)
- Mother India (1957)
- Lajwanti (1958)
- Ghar Sansar (1958)
- Adalat (1958)
- Yaadein (1964)
- Raat Aur Din (1967)
Further reading
- Mr. and Mrs. Dutt: Memories of our Parents, Namrata Dutt Kumar and Priya Dutt, 2007, Roli Books. ISBN 9788174364555.[13]
- Darlingji: The True Love Story of Nargis and Sunil Dutt, Kishwar Desai. 2007, Harper Collins. ISBN 9788172236977.
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