Nimmi: The Doe-eyed ‘Un-kissed’ Girl of India

The elegant, crystal-eyed Nimmi introduced to Bollywood by Raj Kapoor; groomed by Mehboob Khan; pampered by Dilip Kumar and directed by K. Asif in her swansong, she blazed the silver screen with her superlative performances. Vivacity came naturally to coquettish, elfish and bubbly Nimmi. These traits encouraged film makers to cast her repeatedly as a naughty and feisty village belle or the contumacious woman. Most of her films had Nimmi pouting, suffering and willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of her love. She quietly polished her histrionic abilities and developed her own unique style of acting. She never run after the big and glamorous roles, but with her bold and rebellious nature she performed most unconventional roles which other actresses wouldn’t dare. She belonged to the rich legacy of courtesans and theatre artistes to the film industry. The curves of her hairline, the tilt of her chin, the wistfulness of her dark liquid eyes and captivating smile were Nimmi’s potent weapons to woe the audience.  

Nawab Banoo was born in Fatehabad near Agra on 18 February, 1933. Her mother Wahiddan was a courtesan, singer and actress in the 1930s. Her father Abdul Hakim was a military contractor. Her forename ‘Nawab’ was given by her grandfather while her grandmother added ‘Banoo’. Her name was rechristened as "Nimmi" by the showman Raj Kapoor while introducing her as parallel heroine in ‘Barsaat’ (1949). As a child, she made her first public appearance on the stage in Calcutta. She lost her mother at the tender age of eight years and was put under the guardianship of her grandmother. In 1948, she and her grandmother went to Mumbai and they stayed with Nawab’s aunt actress Jyoti, who was married to the playback singer G.M. Durrani.

Those days Mehboob Khan, a family friend, was shooting for Andaz (1949) with Raj Kapoor, Nargis and Dilip Kumar at Central Studios. One day Nimmi along with her grandmother visited the set of Andaz. Raj Kapoor was looking for a fresh face for his film ‘Barsaat’. Something about the unrehearsed Nimmi appealed to him and after few days she was called for the audition. She gave a wonderful shot and then immediately broke down in tears. This endeared her to Raj Kapoor, who gave her the role of an innocent mountain shepherdess Neela in love with a city slicker (Premnath). The film had three popular songs: ‘Barsaat Me Hamse Mile Tum; Hawa Me Udta Jaye and Patli Qamar Hai’ picturised on her. She had the audiences in tears when she commits suicide in the climax. The shy, teenaged Nimmi fitted the role like a glove. The dominant metaphor for the flow of desire is that of water, beautifully depicted in the last shot when the smoke from Neela’s funeral pyre merges with the rain clouds. The film was a phenomenal, critical and commercial success. Her dew fresh appeal resulted in Nimmi being flooded with numerous film offers thereafter.

One of her earliest releases was Fali Mistry’s ‘Sazaa’ (1951) starring Dev Anand. She emoted to the immortal song ‘Tum Na Jaane Kis Jahan Mein Kho Gaye’. The same year, she worked with Dilip Kumar and Ashok Kumar in Nitin Bose’s “Deedar”. The seemingly demure actress, who rose to stardom with Barsaat, was fortunate enough to have appeared mostly in musical bonanzas.

After the success of Barsaat, there was no looking back for Nimmi. Mehboob Khan was next to cast her as Mangala in his magnum opus ‘Aan’ (1952). She played a sweet, rustic belle in love with Dilip Kumar who, in turn, is enamoured by a fiery princess Nadira. Though Nimmi dies before the climax, she does an elongated death dance that captured the imagination of the public. The saucer shaped, expressive eyed actress made waves with her effective portrayal of virtue under siege. ‘Aan’ had a lavish London premiere, where Nimmi met many western film personalities including Errol Flynn. When Flynn attempted to kiss her hand she pulled it away, exclaiming, "I am an Indian girl you cannot do that." The incident made the headlines “Nimmi, India's Most Glamorous Movie Star, Has Never Been Kissed”. Film India editor Baburao Patel called her “Nimmi of the un-kissed lips”. Surprisingly, she received four film offers from Hollywood. However, she declined these offers, choosing to focus on her flourishing career in India. The film was also released in a shortened dubbed version in French as Mangalla Fille des Indes (1954) named after Nimmi’s character Mangala.

Buoyant with the grand success of ‘Aan’, the formidable filmmaker Mehboob Khan cast Nimmi in ‘Amar’ (1954), as a rape survivor, the role no other major actress of her time would have accepted. She played a poor milk-maid seduced by a lawyer Dilip Kumar, who refuses to disclose his identity even when she is disgraced and found to be pregnant. The controversial subject of rape was way ahead of its time and the film was not a commercial success, although Nimmi's intense performance was applauded by critics.

Career wise, an ambitious Nimmi turned producer with the popular film ‘Danka’ (1954). Kundan (1955) produced by Sohrab Modi co-starring Sunil Dutt, gave Nimmi a memorable double role as mother and daughter. Her sensitive portrayal earned her further recognition as a talented and spirited actress. In Udan Khatola (1955), she (Soni) disguised as a man Shibu to secretly meet her beloved Dilip Kumar (Kashi), who had been captive at Rajrani’s palace. But soon she put her life to risk to the tune of ‘O Door Ke Musafir...’ In ‘Char Dil Chaar Raahein’, she deftly played a dancer who turns down a Nawab for his driver (Ajit), but eventually spurns him when he refuses to accept her mother. Nimmi was seductively peppy even in two hero-oriented films ‘Basant Bahar’ and ‘Bhai Bhai’, which proved big successes in 1956. Dancing to the ‘Flute’ tunes of the song ‘Main Piya Teri..’ in ‘Basant Bahar’, Nimmi mesmerised even the exponents of classical music.

However, by the late 1950s, Nimmi’s career began slowly sliding. The films she did like Anjali (1957) and Shama (1961) flopped at the box office. It was during this phase, Nimmi became very selective as she strove for better quality projects and roles. She took on controversial characterizations and offbeat roles such as the prostitute of Char Dil Char Raahen, the blind girl in Pooja Ke Phool (1964) and Ashok Kumar’s mute wife in Akashdeep (1965). However, it did not prove strikingly successful for her career. She rejected films like ‘Sadhna’, ‘Woh Kaun Thi’ and ‘Saraswati Chandra’. She was first offered the coveted female lead in ‘Mere Mehboob’ but she preferred to the sister’s role believing it to be more important. In rejecting the female lead, opposite a hugely popular leading man, Rajendra Kumar, for what was ostensibly a character role, Nimmi lost a valuable chance at making the successful transition into the new phase of films that were then evolving. Her career went under a cloud. Although she retained her star status and continued to be credited above the title, junior actresses like Nanda and Mala Sinha were cast as the romantic leads.

One film that remains significant in her career was K Asif’s ‘Love and God’ (1986), which took a gruelling 23 years to be completed. The film was first shot in black and white with Bharat Bhushan as hero. But later, Mughal-E-Azam took precedence. It was then restarted with Guru Dutt and for seven years it remained in the cans. Then Guru Dutt passed away, so Asif took Sanjeev Kumar. But then Asif himself passed away. Nimmi had delivered a subtle and sensitive portrayal and looked beautiful in Technicolor and the period costumes. It was edited heavily and the final print seemed to be a cut paste job. Nimmi once jokingly remarked “Laila lived but Majnu kept dying”. And now Laila too is gone.

Nimmi gained popularity by playing spirited village belle characters, but has appeared in diverse genres such as fantasy and social films. The larger-than-life histrionics eventually gave way to mellow performances in films like Kundan and Bhai Bhai. Her best performances were seen in the films Sazaa, Aan, Uran Khatola, Bhai-Bhai, Kundan, Mere Mehboob, Pooja Ke Phool, Akashdeep and Basant Bahar. Apart from Nargis with whom she co-starred in Barsaat and Deedar, she also shared screen with many notable heroines like Madhubala (Amar), Suraiya (Shama), Geeta Bali (Usha Kiran), and Meena Kumari (Char Dil Char Rahen).

During her early career, Nimmi was fortunate to work with the Bollywood Triumvirate of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand under the direction of renowned directors like Mehboob Khan, Nitin Bose, Amiya Chakravarty, Kidar Sharma, SU Sunny, K.A. Abbas, Chetan Anand and Vijay Bhatt. While she went on to play heroine opposite Raj Kapoor (Bawra), Dev Anand (Sazaa, Aandhiyan), Bharat Bhushan (Basant Bahaar) and Sanjiv Kumar (Love & God), it was her tragic chemistry with Dilip Kumar that made her the delight of the ticket-window and tabloids.

It was her tragic chemistry with Dilip Kumar in Deedar, Daag, Amar & Udan Khatola that made her the delight of the ticket-windows. Like others, Nimmi too was awed by thespian Dilip Kumar’s acting skills. While their ill-fated love on screen wowed audiences, off-screen too there were rumours linking them up. The media even wrote grapevine about their romantic affair. Nimmi denied as she was involved with S. Ali Raza, who had written dialogues for her films Barsaat, Aan and Amar etc. She left movies in 1965 to get married to S. Ali Raza. The couple was not blessed with any children and they adopted her sister's son Parvez, who now lives in London. Ali was diagnosed with blocked arteries and he passed away in 2007.

Like her mother Wahiddan, Nimmi was also a singer-actress and sang her own song ‘Nanadiya Jaane Na De... in Badardi(1951). But she concentrated on acting passion alone and never continued with her singing ventures. She used to tie a rakhi to Raj Kapoor every year. Her Lucknowi mannerism and penchant for shayri was well known in the Bollywood.

Nimmi was suffering from breathing problems and on 25 March, 2020 she embarked the ‘Uran Khatola’ to her eternal journey: 

‘Chale Aaj Tum Jahan Se, Hui Zindagi Parayi…..O Door Ke Musafir’