Remembering the lovely actress NAZIMA who disappeared at the young age of 27!

By

Sharada Iyer

(This post has been updated on 11th June 2019)

Cine-lovers who are familiar with the cinema of the late-sixties and early-seventies would easily recollect her sweet and innocent face with those lovely big expressive eyes and the charming smile which characterized this talented actress. She had gained popularity as the quintessential ‘sister’ of the hero or the heroine and had a pleasing screen presence.

I have seen quite a few movies of Nazima and used to find her demeanour very appealing. But around the mid-seventies she just disappeared from the scene. I had somehow always thought she had got married and settled somewhere in a foreign country and never came back to the glitz and glamour of the film industry.

It was while browsing some YouTube videos that I came across this shocking piece of news that Nazima had succumbed to cancer and passed away in 1975 itself at the young age of twenty-seven!!!

This is the video I saw…

Apart from the YouTube videos, I also found a few online articles which stated that she passed away at the young age of 27! (http://www.veethi.com/india-people/nazima-profile-6067-14.htm) (http://www.hindustancalling.com/news/bollywood-actress-nazima-hold-record-number-of-rape-scenes-in-movies/)

It was indeed a shocking piece of news and probably explained her disappearance from the scene around 1975. Her filmography boasts of thirty-odd films and it is to her credit that she managed to leave a mark in such a short time and with a small body of work…

Surprisingly the write-up regarding Nazima is abysmally minimal in Wikipedia and does not even mention her date of birth. But the IMDB page states the year of birth as 1948 and death as 1975. 

However on June 10th, 2019 when I happened to watch this episode of Tabassum Talkies, I realized the news about her death had been incorrect and that she is still alive and has children and grandchildren as well. Here is the link :

This blog is a small tribute to Nazima where I have put together some information about her films and a few lovely songs picturized on her. 

Nazima was born in Nashik, Maharashtra and started off as a child artist under the name of ‘Baby Chand’, but doesn’t seem to have done any significant roles. She was seen in ‘Ab Dilli Door Nahin’ (1957), a film by the prestigious RK Banner. It is a very emotional children’s film produced by Raj Kapoor about a child who goes in search of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and request him to save his father from being hanged for a murder he did not commit. Nazima had a small role in it.

 

She also acted in the award winning Bimal Roy film ‘Biraj Bahu’ as the main lead Abhi Bhattacharya’s baby sister.

Nazima was also seen in ‘Devdas’ (1955) in two scenes as part of the class where Devdas and Paro are students. There is one scene where she gets to speak to Baby Naaz separately. The face is unmistakable…

She is also said to have worked in ‘Hum Panchi Ek Daal Ke’ (1957). It is a film with a story dealing with only a set of school boys. However towards the end of the film there is a dance program which has many girls also participating. Probably she was one of the dancers. But this information needs confirmation.

Nazima’s first adult role as a heroine was in 1961 in the film ‘Oomar Qaid’ opposite Sudhir and if the information on her date of birth is true then she must have been barely 14 years old in this film!

She was also seen in ‘Nishaan’ opposite Sanjeev Kumar in 1965. Incidentally though Sanjeev Kumar made his first screen appearance in a small role in the 1960 film ‘Hum Hindustani’ and in the 1964 film ‘Aao Pyar Karen’, it is only in ‘Nishaan’ that he gets to play a hero for the first time and his name appears in the credits as ‘Introducing Sanjeev Kumar’!!!

And to Nazima goes the credit of being Sanjeev Kumar’s first heroine. He has a double role in it and here are two songs one with each of the the twin brothers…

Haaye tabassum tera…

Saathiya bekhudi hai…

Perhaps it was this comfort level with each other that was reflected in their on-screen chemistry in two other hit films which they starred in their later years-‘Raja aur Runk’ (1968) and ‘Manchali’ (1973).  Both these films were big hits. Here are two popular songs from ‘Raja aur Runk’…

O Phirki waali…

Rang Basanti…

Nazima also acted opposite Rajesh Khanna in ‘Aurat’  a family film which released in 1967. Being one of Rajesh Khanna’s early films, they both look very young and make a charming couple.

Shola ulfat ka bhadkake…

Hame unse…

But two years later in 1969 while Rajesh Khanna was seen opposite Babita in ‘Doli’, Nazima settled for playing second fiddle to the heroine Babita and was the wife of the villain Prem Chopra in the film.

There was a lovely Asha Bhonsle number picturized on both the actresses where they are dreaming of their respective fiancés.

In 1969 she also played Jeetendra’s sister in ‘Waris’ which had newcomer Hema Malini cast opposite Jeetendra.

While many feel that during this period Nazima committed professional hara-kiri by simultaneously accepting ‘sister’ roles, she need not have been disheartened for Nazima left an indelible mark in whatever role she did. She was lucky that the era that she worked in films was the era when family films were made which gave importance to the character of a ‘sister’ or a ‘friend’ and hence her roles never went unnoticed. Also as all these films had melodious music she had many memorable songs picturized on her.

AARZOO (1965)

Jab isq kahin ho jaata hai…

She played Asha Parekh’s sister in ‘Ziddi’ (1964) Saira Banu’s sister in ‘April Fool’ (1965), Sunil Dutt’s sister in ‘Gazal’ (1964), Rajendra Kumar’s sister in ‘Aarzoo’ (1965), Jeetendra’s sister in ‘Waris’ in 1969, etc., and gained a lot of popularity in them.  Yes! She found more appreciation in ‘sister’ or ‘friend roles’ than as a heroine.

In a way by accepting by playing sister to all the upcoming and established heroes she sealed her own fate. In an interview in 1968, she mentioned that she did this to keep herself busy and to not let go of whatever little work was coming her way. She also expressed her disappointment that though she had got to work with great directors, it was sad that nobody saw her as ‘heroine’ material.

As a child artist she had worked with Bimal Roy and in the popular RK banner as well, somehow they did not cast her in any lead role later on. Those were the days when actors and actresses were more or less slotted into a certain type of image based on the character they portrayed. So when she gained popularity as a major heroine /hero’s sister or ‘friend’ she closed her own doors to become a heroine.

Some of her memorable performances were in ‘Manchali’, ‘Honeymoon’, ‘Aaye Din Bahaar Ke’, and ‘Beimaan’, where she had almost equal footage as the heroine.  Honeymoon has a unique story-line in which two friends decide to break-up with their boyfriends and agree to settle for arranged marriage with the boys chosen by their parents. Ironically they get married to the other’s boyfriend and what follows is quite amusing and interesting. Nazima’s role is as important as Leena Chandavarkar’s but while Leena gets two lovely Kishore-Asha duets picturized on her and Anil Dhawan, Nazima has none. So people may not immediately recall her name in the context of the film.

Her other memorable roles include ‘Aarzoo’, ‘Raja aur Runk’, ‘Anjaana’ and ‘Doli’. She was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in ‘Beimaan’ where she played Manoj Kumar’s sister.

BEIMAAN (1972)

Yeh Rakhi bandhan hai aisa…

Sadly two of her films-‘Ranga Khush’ and ‘Dayar-e-Madina’ released after her death in 1976. She even got the top billing in the latter. But the co-artistes were not familiar names or faces and not much appreciation came her way.

Had she lived and continued, she would have definitely graduated to playing significant character roles. But that was not to be. She succumbed to cancer and left the world at a very young age. Not much detail is available about her family or about her illness. But even in her short body of work she acted with top directors, producers, heroes and heroines and had memorable songs picturized on her giving her a great recall value.

ANJAANA  (1969)

Hum behnon ke liye mere bhaiyya…

It is only when we try to go back in time to dig some information about our yesteryear actors and actresses that we realize how woefully inadequate our records are! Not all of them had the good fortune of having reached the zenith but definitely they did light up the cinema screens in their own way with their acting and screen presence albeit for a little while.

BADNAAM (1975)

Bhaiyya phool main phoolon ki rani…

Here is a song from ‘Adhikar’ which boasted of a talented cast like Ashok Kumar, Pran and Nanda. She was cast opposite Deb Mukherjee. This song picturized on her can easily be counted amongst the finest duets of Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhonsle.

Koi maane ya na mane…

In the film ‘Aaye Din Bahaar Ke’ (1966), though she comes only after half of film is over, she has an important role and even her marriage is fixed with the hero Dharmendra before she realizes that her best friend Asha Parekh is actually his true love. This film had a brilliant song by the Mangeshkar sisters Lata and Asha and Nazima is indeed lucky to have done lip-syncing to this immortal number composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal.

Ae kaash kisi deewane ko…

In the absence of more concrete information, I request the readers reading this blog to please share any new information pertaining to this lovely actress…