Nirmala Devi, also known as Nirmala Arun (died 1996), was an Indian film actress in the 1940s and a Hindustani classical vocalist of the Patiala Gharana, in far northern India. She is the mother of Bollywood actor Govinda.

Nirmala Devi was the wife of the 1940s actor Arun Kumar Ahuja. She has six children, including Indian film actor Govinda and film director Kirti Kumar. She died in 1996.

Biography

Nirmala Devi was born on the 7th of June 1927, in the holy city of Varanasi (then known as Banares), in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Her father, Vasdev Prashad Singh, a jeweler by profession, belonged to the Gaharwar Rajput Vansh (Gaharwar Rajput Clan) and owned a prosperous business in the city. Her mother Shrimati Kusum Devi, a traditional home-maker (housewife), hailed from village Shahganj in the district of Faizabad, from the same province. Nirmala Devi was the eldest of 12 siblings, 9 boys and 3 girls.

Nirmala accompanied her father to Mumbai, then known as Bombay, at the age of 15 to record her first album with the premier music company of that time, His Master’s Voice (HMV). She has performed for AIR and Doordarshan.

She was married to actor Arun Kumar Ahuja in 1942. They had 6 children, 4 daughters and 2 sons. The sons are Indian film actor Govinda and film director Kirti Kumar. Nirmala took to acting during the period of her betrothal and her first film to be released was ‘Savera’ (meaning ‘Dawn), with husband Arun as co-star.

Nirmala Devi died on 15 June 1996, at the age of 69, in Mumbai.