Nutan- the sophisticated actress of bollywood.

Nutan- the sophisticated actress of bollywood.

Nutan is one of the most sophisticated actresses who had remained sublime in her performances over three decades. In the 50s, she was used by eminent director Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee for playing complex roles which required depth of acting.

She played the role of insane person in the film Seema, who became insane due to social pressure but was reformed in the institution run by Balraj Sahani. The songs in the film composed by Shankar Jaikishan and sung by Rafi, Lata, Manna Dey, including “baat baat pe rutho na”, “kahan ja rahe ho”, “tu pyar ka sagar hai”, were immortal hits.

She amazed the viewers with her performance in the film Sujata and Bandini, directed by Bimal Roy, where she even expressed the feelings of a woman who commits crime due to provocation and spends time in prison. She brought tears in the eyes of viewers with her lips in the tragic songs composed by SD Burman. Songs like “jalte hai jiske liye”, “mora gora aang laile”, were very successful.


In Anari, opposite Raj Kapoor, directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, she played the role of a rich arrogant girl who was touched by the innocence of a middle-class person played by Raj Kapoor. The songs in the film composed by Shankar Jaikishan, had created history, including songs like “banke panchi”, “kisi ki muskurahato pe ho nisar”, “sab kuch sikha humne”, “tera jana”, “yeh chand khila”, etc.

Nutan at the same time acted in hit commercial films like Laatsahab, opposite Shammi Kapoor, Tere ghar ke saamne, opposite Dev Anand, Milan, etc. She even acted in a mute role, in the film Karma, at the end of her career, opposite Dilip Kumar, where the terrorist activities had made her dumb. It was a difficult role and Nutan only had the potentiality to give right expression without dialogues.

Nutan had made notable contribution for more than 40 years in films and could adjust herself in any type of role including comedy role in Delhi ka thug, opposite Kishore Kumar. Her sophisticated style of performance cannot be highlighted in a small article, but the reference reminds people of the golden age where most of her films including Chaliya, Kanhaiya, Dil hi to hai, Paying guest, show her indispensability in the bollywood film industry.

By: Supriya Chatterji.