Considered to be one of the finest actors of Indian cinema, Nutan acted in over 70 Hindi films in a career spanning four decades. The actress, who held the record of winning the Best Actress award at Filmfare five times, until it was broken by her niece Kajol in 2011, was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian Government in 1974. Nutan died in 1991 from breast cancer.
Nutan was launched by her mother Shobana Samarth at the age of 14 with the film 'Hamari Beti’ in 1950. Incidentally, not many know that she was also Miss India 1952.
Known for her prowess in essaying unconventional roles, Nutan's Seema, in 1955, won her the first Filmfare Award for Best Actress. An inspiration for many actors, she would go on to win the Filmfare Award for four more films — ‘Sujata’ (1959), ‘Bandini’ (1963), ‘Milan’ (1967) and ‘Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki’ (1978).
On her 83rd birth anniversary, we take a look at 5 of her films that essay the actor in the finest light.
Seema (1955): The Bollywood film starring Balraj Sahni and Nutan saw her playing an orphan who suffers at the hands of her relatives and is then sent to an orphanage after being accused of theft. It is there for the first time, she finds friendship, compassion, and possibly love.
Sujata (1959): The Bimal Roy directorial had Sunil Dutt and Nutan in starring roles and was based on a Bengali short story of the same name by Subodh Ghosh. The film explored the situation of caste system in India and was India's entry into the 1960 Cannes Film festival. The film itself is a romance between a Brahmin young man, Adheer (Sunil Dutt) and an untouchable woman, Sujata (Nutan).
Bandini (1963): Another Bimal Roy directorial saw Nutan along with Dharmendra and Ashok Kumar in starring roles. The film is based on the Bengali novel Tamasi by Jarasandha (Charu Chandra Chakrabarti) and tells the story of a woman prisoner serving life imprisonment for murder. Essaying the all-sacrificing Indian woman, she must choose between Devendra (Dharmendra), the loving prison doctor, and Bikash (Ashok Kumar), a man from her past.
Milan (1967): Remake of the Telugu hit Mooga Manasulu, the romance-drama transcends a single life as the unconsummated love story between Radha (Nutan) and ferryman Gopi (Sunil Dutt) finds conclusion during their second lifetime. With music by Lakshmikant-Pyarelal and lyrics by Anand Bakshi, the film had stellar performances by all the lead star-cast.
Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki (1978): Based on the Marathi novel titled Ashi Tujhi Preet by Chandrakant Kakodkar, Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki is about an aristocrat, Thakur Rajnath Singh Chouhan (Vijay Anand), who is in love with his mistress Tulsi (Asha Parekh) but forced to marry a strong aristocratic woman named Sanjukta (Nutan). Nutan’s performance as the strong wife who continues raising her husband's illegitimate son makes for a wonderful watch.
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