Thread by @bhoolebisre

Here is a thread dedicated to superstar Nutan Behl, who with her powerful performances, has enriched bollywood with a legacy of unforgettable films.

Nutan Samarth was born on 4th June, 1936 in a highly educated and cultured family of actress Shobhna Samarth and filmmaker Kumarsen Samarth. She was the eldest of the 4 siblings.

Like her mother, Nutan was admitted to Baldwin High school in Bangalore. But she hated the food there and felt lonely, so her father took her back to Bombay and she was admitted to Hill Grange School.

Nutan grew up a complex child. Her sculpted face n chiseled features, which became a photographer’s delight in later years, were dismissed as ugly in her formative years.

One day, Nutan accompanied her mother to a muhurat where K Asif spotted her and immediately offered her a role. Her mother hiwever declined the offer and decided to make a film herself, for her daughter. “Hamari Beti” was released and Nutan, who was just 14, was noticed.

Nutan then went on to work in films like Nagina and Hum log, which were instant hits. Nutan, who was a teenager then, was not allowed to watch her own film Nagina, as it was an “adults only” film.

However, 1953-54, was the lean phase in her career as her films were flopping and the industry had an issue with her looks n appearance. Her tall and lanky frame was a misfit in the ear when petite and buxom was the norm. Her mother even feared that she had TB.

So, at 17, despite having numerous film offers, she was sent to Switzerland to attend Le Chatelaine, a finishing school. Nutan described that phase as the happiest year of her life. She did a secretarial course, which helped her in doing her own typing, managing her accounts and

tax matters. She even learnt French there and came back to India 40 pounds heavier, or in her mother’s word “nice and plump”.

She got a major breakthrough in Amiya Chakraborty’s Seema. As an orphaned girl, Nutan was feisty and marvelous by climbing right under the skin of the character.

This was followed by the super successful romcom Paying Guest. In the classic terrace song, “O nigah e mastana” the humming of Nutan was so real that audience believed that she had done the humming herself.

In Bimal Roy’s Sujata, Nutan played the affable lower cast girl who gets adopted by an upper cast family. Her powerpacked performance won unstinted praise from audience and critics alike.

In 1963, Nutan starred in Bimal Roy’s swansong Bandini, as a young prisoner convicted of murdering her lover’s wife.
Her metamorphosis from a docile, moonstruck village belle Kalyani to a murderous maniac and

her realistic balancing of feelings she had for two men, her un glamorous avatar and her eyes throbbing with conflicting sentiments left the audience captivated and critics enthralled.

From 1960-1970, Nutan appeared in many more selected films like Saraswati Chandra, Chhalia, Devi, Tere Ghar K saamne and Milan.

From 70s, Nutan started appearing in selected films like Maa or Mamta, Sajan bina suhagan, Kasturi, Saudagar, Main Tulsi tere aangan ki. With each film she left a lasting impact on audience making her the first art film actress with a great commercial pull.

Nutan was always hungry for offbeat roles. During Meri Jung, she had a long argument with Javed Akhtar. She wanted to play the role of a widow who remarries after her kids settle down, but Javed said that the public would never accept this. This argument made no sense to Nutan.

Nutan had an uncanny ability to lipsync even the most complex melodies. She strummed the instruments precisely, closed her eyes at the right moment and moved her body in perfect harmony with the tune and notes. A large credit of this goes to her own passion n knowledge of music.

Nutan was at her emotive best when given the least spoken lines. Her silence was eloquent. Even in her 20s, she played characters which were beyond her age.

She held the record of winning most number of filmfare awards for best actress, for a very long time, until it was broken by her niece Kajol in 2011.

Marriage:
How Nutan and Rajneesh met had been a secret between themselves. Rajnish had no idea about her star status as he hardly saw hindi films. They got married on October 11, 1959.

Though Nutan didn’t want to work after her marriage but her husband encouraged her to continue with her work. She was pregnant with her son Mohnish Behl, while she was working in Bandini.

Nutan was a hands on wife and mother. She generously endorsed her husband’s passion for hunting and often accompanied him to shikaar. Over the years, she too became a fine hunter and hunted a few panthers herself.

She sometimes went to see her own movies without wearing a burkha. Hers was a kind of open disguise. She would just change her walk, her manner of talking and her way of looking at people. People coming out after seeing the film would just pass by her, failing to recognize her.

In 1991, a biting sensation in her armpit turned out to be breast cancer. By February, cancer had spread and on 21st february, at the age of 54, this talented actress, poetess, thinker who always looked at life through a philosophical prism, breathed her last.

Credits: Wikipedia, Cinemaazi, Cineplot, Letstalkaboutbollywood.com, Hindustan Times, Learningandcreativity.com, Google arts and culture, Youtube.
The credit for all the images remain with the respective photographers only.

Cc @PranutanBahl ma’am @Mohnish_Bahl sir 🙏🏻