Nanda was a renowned actress of Hindi films known for her superhit films like “Hum Dono (1961),” “Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965), and “Ittefaq (1969).”
Nanda was born Nandini Karnataki on January 8, 1939, in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. Nanda’s foray into acting was not by choice but by necessity. At the age of eight, she stepped into the world of cinema to support her family, which came under financial hardships after the untimely demise of her father, Master Vinayak, the renowned Hindi-Marathi producer-director and superstar actor of the 1930s & 1940s.
Baby Nanda
Nanda started her career as a child actor in “Mandir” in 1948. V. Shantaram, who was a cousin of her father, Master Vinayak, gave Nanda a big break by casting her in a successful brother-sister saga “Toofan Aur Diya” (1956). She received her first Filmfare Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress for “Bhabhi” (1957).
Next, she appeared in Barlaj Sahni, Rahman and Mehmood starrer “Chhoti Bahen”(1959) and was praised for her performance. She played the second lead in “Dhool Ka Phool”(1959), directed by Yash Chopra followed by B R Chopra’s “Kanoon” (1960), a film with no songs, a rare occurrence. She appeared in Dev Anand’s Kala Bazar in 1960 and later became his heroine in “Hum Dono” (1961) and “Teen Deviyan”(1965).
She won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for “Anchal (1960),” which also starred Ashok Kumar & Nirupa Roy. She was paired with Raj Kapoor in “Aashiq (1962),” with Sunil Dutt in “Nartaki (1963),” & “Aaj Aur Kal (1963),” and with Dharmendra in “Mera Qasoor Kya Hai (1964),” & “Akashdeep (1965).” She paired with Manoj Kumar in the 1965 superhit suspense thriller “Gumnaam,” which helped put her in the top league of heroines.
Perhaps her most successful film was 1965’s “Jab Jab Phool Khile” with Shashi Kapoor, in which Nanda played a Westernized role for the first time. Her favourite song that was famously picturized on her in the film was “Yeh samaa, Samaa Hai Ye Pyar Ka.” Sashi Kapoor and Nanda declared each other their favourite co-stars and went on to do several movies like “Mohabbat Isko Kahete Hain (1965), “Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965),” “Neend Hamari Khwab Tumhare (1966),” “Raja Saab (1969),” and “Rootha Na Karo (1970).”
She was paired with Jeetendra in “Parivar (1967),” and “Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke(1969).” She did Abhilasha (1968), which also had Meena Kumari, and Beti (1969) with Sanjay Khan.
In the songless suspense thriller “Ittefaq (1969),” she paired with Rajesh Khanna for which she received her first and only nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She has done two more films with Rajesh Khanna, the thriller “The Train” (1970) and a comedy “Joroo Ka Ghulam” (1972).
Her subsequent films, like “Chhalia” (1973) and “Naya Nasha” (1974), did not do well and she took a sabbatical from acting. She made a comeback after a few years in “Ahista Ahista” (1981), Raj Kapoor’s “Prem Rog” (1982), and “Mazdoor” (1983), receiving two nominations for the Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actress for the first two films.
After Mazdoor (1983), where she paired with Dilip Kumar, she retired permanently. After retirement, she remains in close contact with her friends Waheeda Rahman, Helen, Sadhna, and others. She was also close to Saira Banu, it was said that at the time of her demise, she was wearing a dress gifted by Saira Ji. Nanda never married, she was engaged to director Manmohan Desai, both middle-aged by then, when he died in 1992.
Nanda died in Mumbai on March 25, 2014, at her Versova residence, aged 75, following a heart attack.
