Nargis: The Evergreen Actress

Actress Nargis with an original name of Fatima Rashid was one among the legendary and talented actresses of Hindi cinema. Her screen name means 'Narcissus', the flower. She debuted in to the film industry as a child actress in the film Talash-E-Haq in '35 but her real career began with the film Tamanna, released in 1942.

She was brought into the world of cinema by her mother Jaddanbai, who was a classical singer and courtesan, to stop her from turning into a courtesan too.

She has appeared in several blockbuster films with well known actors like Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor. A few of them are Deedar, Barsaat, Awaara and Andaz. She was an actress for almost twenty years starting from the '40s to the '60s and Mother India was her most popular movie. She received the Filmfare Best Actress Award for this movie. Appearing as Radha in this film, it was one of the best known roles she had ever played. It was during the shooting of this film that she met her future life partner Sunil Dutt, who had reportedly saved her from a fire in between the film-shoot.

Nargis quit films after she got married. Namratha, Priya Dutt and Sanjay Dutt were their children.

Nargis was awarded the prestigious Urvashy Award which is the highest honor given to a film in Hindi cinema. She has also received several other honors including Padma Shri, National Film Award and the Karlovy Award. She was the first actress of the Hindi film industry to receive this esteemed award.

Together with husband Sunil Dutt, Nargis established the Ajanta Arts Cultural Troupe. Consisting of several well-known actors and actresses, this group entertained the Indian soldiers at borders.

This troupe is the first from the lot to perform in Dhaka after Pakistan and India combat. She saw her name being nominated to Rajya Sabha also. However, Nargis could not complete her term of office as she was found to have carcinoma and succumbed to it.

One other well-known quality of Nargis, apart from acting, was her commitment towards social work. She was the first patron of The Spastics Society of India, where she worked for the benefit of spastic children. She could not be forgotten by her family members. It was apparent from the vacant seat left at the first screening of Sanjay Dutt's first movie, Rocky. As a dedication to her, the Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Foundation was built.

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