Obit: Death kisses Nimmi, the 'unkissed girl of India'

In 1952, Mehboob Khan's Aan was the first ever Indian movie to had its worldwide release. Featuring Dilip Kumar, Premnath, Nimmi and Nadira, Aan was also India's first technicolour film. Khan had an extremely lavish premiere in London where Nimmi got chance to meet many western film personalities.

Hollywood legend Errol Flynn was one among the bigwigs who attended Aan premiere. Flynn, the romantic star from Golden Age of Hollywood attempted to kiss Nimmi's hand at the premiere but she pulled it away, exclaiming, “I am an Indian girl, you cannot do that!” The incident caught the frenzy of media and Nimmi was all over the Press as the “…unkissed girl of India”.

That was Nawab Banoo, who made her Bollywood debut in Raj Kapoor's 1949 release, Barsaat, which was Kapoor's first major hit. In fact, the screen name Nimmi was reportedly given to her by Kapoor. Before Barsaat shoot was wrapped, Nimmi became Raj's rakhi sister and was given due respect by the Kapoor household.

Nimmi in a still from her debut Barsaat

Just as her screen name, Nimmi's real name, Nawab Banoo, too has an interesting story attached to it. Nimmi's maternal grandfather was a small zamindar in pre-independent India. Those days few people acquired the title of nawab and grandfather always craved for one, without success. So, when she was born, he gave her the title and insisted on calling her nawab saab, till he died.

Nimmi was born in Agra on February 18, 1933, as Nawab Banoo to a Muslim courtesan named Wahidan. Her father Abdul Hakim was a military contractor. When she was only 11, her mother passed away and Nimmi went to Abbottabad to live with her maternal grandmother. Post-Partition in 1947, when Abbottabad went to Pakistan, Nimmi's grandmother shifted to Mumbai to live in India. That's where Nimmi's Bollywood connection started, because her grandmother's other daughter, Jyoti, was a one time actor, and Jyoti's husband GM Durrani was a renowned playback singer and composer.

In the fifties and sixties, Nimmi's stardom was at its pinnacle. The actor worked in films with most top actors, notably the Bollywood Triumvirate of the era – Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand. One of her earliest releases was Fali Mistry's Sazaa starring Dev Anand in 1951. The same year, she worked with Dilip Kumar and Ashok Kumar in Nitin Bose's Deedar.

Nimmi with her frequent collaborator Dilip Kumar

The accidental actor, whose early outings were more theatrical, honed her skills and reached a time when with toned-down performances built a loyal fan base in the times when screen sirens like Nargis, Nutan, Madhubala and Meena Kumari were ruling the front.

The actor who played the victim repeatedly was headstrong to essay Gauri, a blind girl in Pooja Ke Phool even when the film's producer insisted otherwise. Nimmi's performance did win applauds and years later was recognised by her screenwriter husband Ali Raza.

Captured enacting an intense moment

READ |Yesteryear's powerhouse actor Nimmi passes away at 88

Though she won kudos for her performances in a variety of roles, Nimmi was a little too harsh a critic of herself and according to her not a single role in her filmography that had pleased her to the core.

In a throwback interview, Nimmi said, "I could have done much better roles. Nobody really gave me a really exciting role. The restlessness of an artiste is still there within me despite all these years. I have not been completely satisfied with a single performance of mine."

Nimmi in a still from Amar

K. Asif's much-delayed Love And God, a retelling of the Laila-Majnu story turned out to be her swansong. Asif started the project in 1963, and the film released long after his death in 1986, after several changes in the cast and crew. The released film had Sanjeev Kumar and Nimmi in the lead roles.

K. Asif's Love And God poster featuring Nimmi and Sanjeev Kumar

In 1965, Nimmi married Ali Raza, who was associated with Mehboob Studios. Reportedly, a popular comic actor of the era, Mukri, and Nimmi's hairdresser had played matchmakers. The actor gave up on her career to start a family after marriage. After two miscarriages Nimmi adopted her sister’s son, who now lives in London. The couple was married till Raza's demise in 2007.

Over the recent past, Nimmi was suffering from breathing problems and had been in and out of the hospital. The 88-year-old actor breathed her last on Wednesday after a prolonged illness.