Nargis

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Nargis was born on 01 June 1929 as Fatima Rashid but known by her screen name, Nargis, She is regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Hindi cinema, she made her screen debut as a child artist in the film, Talash e Haq in the year 1935  but her adult acting career began in 1942 with the film Tamanna.

Nargis was born in Calcutta, West Bengal. Her father Abdul Rashid alias Mohan Babu, a Punjabi Muslim, was a wealthy Mohyal Tyagi from Rawalpindi, Punjab who had converted himself to Islam Religion. Her mother was Jaddanbai, a hindustani Classical music Singer and one of the early pioneers of the Indian Cinema.  She was instrumental in getting Nargis into the film world unfolding in India at the time.  Nargis' maternal cousin Anwar Hussain was also a film actor during that time.

Nargis made her first film appearance in the 1935 film Talash e Haq when she was barely six years old, as a child artist and was called "Baby Nargis".    Nargis is a Persian word for Daffodil flower.

During a career that spanned from the 1940s to the 1960s, Nargis appeared in numerous commercially successful as well as critically appreciated films, many of which featured her with actor Raj Kapoor. They both had an on-screen chemistry that became a famous and most popular pair of that time.

Nargis had long-time relationship with actor Raj Kapoor, who was her co-star in several films  but Raj Kapoor was already married then and had children when they had their affair going on during the making of the films together.

After he refused to divorce his wife, Nargis decided to end their year long term relationship and she married Sunil Dutt, on 11 March 1958. Their off screen romance started when Sunil Dutt had saved her life from a fire accident on the sets of the film, ' Mother India '   The couple had three children together Sanjay Dutt, Namrata, and Priya Dutt. 

Sanjay Dutt went on to become a successful film actor. Namrata married actor Kumar Gaurav . He is the son of veteran actor Rajendra Kumar who had appeared in the block buster film, 'Mother India' with Nargis and Sunil Dutt .  Her daughter Priya became a politician and a Member of Parliament for Lok Sabha.

Nargis had met Sunil Dutt first time on the sets of Balraj Sahni 's Do Bigha Zameen, He was  then a student aspiring to be an actor and she was already an established star by then. They had no plans then of getting married until several years later after their acted together in the film ' Mother India '

The two came from very different backgrounds. Sunil Dutt was the son of a Punjabi land-owning family who lost their land to Pakistan and had to rebuild their lives and homes in India.Nargis was the daughter of Jaddanbai, a Muslim Thumri Singer. from Allahabad, and Mohan Babu, a Hindu from Rawalpindi.

Along with her husband, Nargis established the Ajanta Cultural Troupe which brought in several leading actors and singers of the time together to hold 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 she was nominated for Rajya Sabha in 1980.

Nargis after her death continued to be a part of his every waking hour.. Her son Sanjay Dutt has strong resemblance of his beautiful mother. 

A  cancer foundation  has been established in her name by her husband Sunil Dutt and the family. 

Some memories of their life together, Sunil Dutt says, can never be forgotten. One of them was his wife's unfulfilled ambition to be a doctor and the other dream that she saw was to see her son Sanjay Dutt earn fame, name in the film Industry. Her dream was to see his first film release and see him as an established actor. 

The time when Nargis was in her last stages and dying, her son Sanjay Dutt's debut film  Rocky  was released .  Nargis wanted to be present for the premier but she didn't make it till the 7th May the date of the release and she passed away on May 3rd.

Rocky became a hit and he didn't know whether to celebrate or to cry. He was young and he took to drugs soon after.

Nargis appeared in numerous films after her debut film Talash e Haq .

She was remembered always for her lasting fame and her roles that created an impact in the minds of the viewers. She is remembered for her particular roles in the films.  She had started her adult roles at the age of 14 in Mehboob Khan's Taqdeer in 1943 opposite Motilal. and later continued to be starring in many popular films thereafter between 1940 and 1950 she had acted in some films with big banners and well known producers of that era.

Some of her films in 1949 were Barsaat, and Andaz which brought her instant fame.. She later did films like Awaara and Deedar in 1951, Shree 420 in 1955 and Chori Chori in 1956.  She acted in Mehboob Khan's Oscar-nominated which is a story based in Rural India . The film Mother India went on to be one of her first milestone pictures for which she has won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance . The film till date is considered as one of the greatest epic film produced in India.  .

Nargis married her Mother India Co.star Actor Sunil Dutt .

After her marriage Nargis gave up her flourishing career to set up her home and start a family.  Her last film Raat Aur Din  was released in 1967. The film was well received by her fans and viewers . Nargis played the role of a woman who suffers from multiple personality disorder and was critically acclaimed for her perfomance.  She also won the National Film Award for Best Actress and became the first actress to win in this category.. She received the 2nd Filmfare Best Actress Award nomination for this film.

In 2011, Rediff.com listed her name as the greatest actress of all times stating that she was an actress with a range , style, grace and incredibly warm, cheerful screen presence.

In almost all her films Nargis recreated herself s a woman who could be desired and deified.  The charisma of Nargis's screen image portrayed her a woman of poise, grace and simplicity.