Nargis Dutt (June 1, 1929 – May 3, 1981), was born in Calcutta. She was known by her screen name, Nargis. She was a leading Indian film actress and is regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Hindi cinema. She made the Hindi film industry feel proud by giving the mast remembrable films like Mother India, Shree 420, Jagate raho and many more.
She made her screen debut as a child in Talash-E-Haq in 1935, but her acting carer began in 1942 with Tamanna. During a career that spanned from the 1940s to the 60s, 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, Oscar-nominated rural drama (1957). This aws the performance that won her Best Actress trophies at the Filmfare Awards and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Nargis married her Mother India co-star, actor Sunil Dutt, and left the film industry. 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, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and underwent treatment for the disease at Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York. 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. 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. 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.
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. The couple married on March 11, 1958 and had three children together: Sanjay, Namrata, and Priya.
Movies by Nargis:
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. 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.
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), Mother India (1957), Lajwanti (1958), Ghar Sansar (1958), Adalat (1958), Yaadein (1964), Raat Aur Din (1967), Tosa oneira stous dromous (1968),