Nargis

If you like this person, let us know!

Do you like this person ?

I like

I don't like

Birth name Fatima Rashid
Nationality Inde
Birth 1 june 1929 at Kolkata (Inde)
Death 3 may 1981 (at 51 years) at Mumbai (Inde)
Awards Padma Shri, Filmfare Awards

Nargis Dutt (1 June 1929 – 3 May 1981), born Fatima Rashid but known by her screen name, Nargis, was an Indian film actress. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Hindi cinema, she made her screen debut as a child in Talash-E-Haq in 1935, but her acting career began in 1942 with Tamanna (1942). During a career that spanned from the 1940s to the 1960s, Nargis appeared in numerous commercially successful as well as critically appreciated films, many of which featured her alongside actor and filmmaker Raj Kapoor.

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 trophy at the Filmfare Awards. 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 1960s. Some of her films of this period include the drama Raat Aur Din (1967), for which she was given 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. In early 1970s, she became the first patron of Spastics Society of India, and her subsequent work with the organisation brought her recognition as a social worker, and later a Rajya Sabha nomination in 1980.

Nargis died in 1981 of pancreatic cancer, a few days before her son Sanjay Dutt made his debut in Hindi films. In 1982, the Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Foundation was established in her memory. 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.

Biography

Nargis dated actor Raj Kapoor, who was her co-star in the films Awara and Shree 420. Raj Kapoor was already married then and had children. After he refused to divorce his wife, Nargis decided to end their year long relationship. Nargis married actor Sunil Dutt (himself a Mohyal from Jhelum, Pakistan). Reportedly, Dutt had saved her life from a fire accident on the sets of Mother India. The couple married on 11 March 1958 and had three children together: Sanjay, Namrata, and Priya. Sanjay went on to become a 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 a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha).

Along with her husband, Nargis formed the Ajanta Arts Cultural Troupe, which involved 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 in Dhaka, after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and the formation of Bangladesh. 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.