1. Nimmi gained popularity by playing spirited village belle characters, but has appeared in diverse genres such as fantasy and social films.
22 Facts About Nimmi
1. 2.
Nimmi's mother was a tawaif, singer and an actress, known as Wahidan.
3.
When Nimmi was 11 years old, her mother suddenly died.
4.
Nimmi's father lived in Meerut where he worked and had another family; by this time, his contact with Nimmi's mother was minimal.
5.
Nimmi was therefore sent to live in Abbottabad near Rawalpindi with her maternal grandmother.
6.
Nimmi's grandmother moved to Mumbai and settled in the household of her other daughter, known by the name Jyoti.
7.
In 1948, via the connection with her mother Wahidan who had worked with him in the 1930s, the famous filmmaker Mehboob Khan, invited the young Nimmi to watch the making of his current production Andaz at Central Studios.
8.
Nimmi had shown an interest in movies and this was an opportunity to understand the film making process.
9.
Nimmi played the role of an innocent mountain shepherdess in love with a heartless city man.
10.
Nimmi worked with top heroes like Raj Kapoor, and Dev Anand.
11.
Nimmi was a singer and sang her own songs in the film Bedardi in which she acted.
12.
Nimmi further revealed in a 2013 interview, that at the London premiere of Aan, she received four serious offers from Hollywood, including one from Cecil B DeMille who greatly admired the film and Nimmi's performance.
13.
Nimmi declined these offers, choosing to focus on her flourishing career in India.
14.
Nimmi played a poor, milkmaid seduced by a lawyer.
15.
Nimmi acted and turned producer with the popular film Danka which was released under her own production banner.
16.
Nimmi next had two big successes in 1956 with Basant Bahar and Bhai-Bhai.
17.
In 1957, at the age of 24, Nimmi received the critic's award for best actress for her role in Bhai Bhai.
18.
At this point, Nimmi opted for early retirement and marriage, but not before investing her best efforts into one last film production.
19.
Nimmi's hairdresser had shown her Raza's photo in the film magazine "Filmindia" and asked her why she did not want to marry him.
20.
Nimmi liked the idea as she had heard about Ali Raza.
21.
Nimmi is considered among the highest paid actresses of the 1950s and leading actresses of Indian cinema.
22.
Nimmi had been in and out of hospitals during the last year of her life.