Nimmi

Nimmi was a popular Indian screen actress who achieved stardom in the 1950s and early 1960s in Hindi films. She gained popularity playing spirited village belle type characters, but also appeared in diverse genres such as fantasy and social films.

Early life

Nawab Banoo was born in Agra, India. Her mother was a famous singer and actress by the name of Wahidan who was well connected within the film industry. Her father, Abdul Hakim, worked as a military contractor. As a young child, Nimmi had memories of visiting Bombay, and her mother being on good terms with Mehboob Khan and his family, who were prominent and influential within the movie making business.

When Nimmi was only nine years old, her mother died suddenly. She was sent to live in Abbottabad with her grandmother. Nimmi's father stayed on in Meerut where he worked. With the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, among the multitude of migrants and refugees were Nimmi and her grandmother. As Nimmi's aunt , who was also once a leading film star had a home in Bombay, that is where she and her grandmother settled.

Career

Through the connection with her mother who had worked with him in the 1930s, in 1948, the famous film maker Mehboob Khan, invited the young Nimmi to watch the making of his current production Andaz at Central Studios. She had shown an interest in movies and this was an opportunity to understand the film making process. On the sets of Andaz, Nimmi met Raj Kapoor who was starring in the film.

At the...
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