Nimmi

Nawab Bano was born in Agra to a Muslim family. Her mother was a tawaif,singer and an actress, known as Wahidan. She was well connected within the film industry. Nimmi's father, Abdul Hakim, worked as a military contractor. Nimmi's birth forename of "Nawab" was given by her grandfather while her grandmother added "Bano". 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 11 years old, her mother suddenly died. Her father lived in Meerut where he worked and had another family; by this time, his contact with Nimmi's mother was minimal. Nimmi was therefore sent to live in Abbottabad near Rawalpindi with her maternal grandmother. The partition of India happened in 1947, and Abbottabad went to Pakistan. Nimmi's grandmother moved to Mumbai (then known as Bombay) and settled in the household of her other daughter, known by the name Jyoti. Herself a former actress, Jyoti was married to G. M. Durrani, a popular Indian playback singer, actor, and music director. 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. 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 that time, Raj Kapoor was filming his production of Barsaat (1949). Having already cast the famous actress Nargis in the female lead role, he was on the lookout for a young girl to play the second lead. After observing Nimmi's unaffected and shy behaviour as a guest on the sets of Andaz, he cast the teenaged Nimmi in Barsaat opposite the actor Prem Nath. Nimmi played the role of an innocent mountain shepherdess in love with a heartless city man. Barsaat, released in 1949, made movie history. It was a phenomenal and commercial success. Despite the presence of established and popular stars Nargis, Raj Kapoor and Prem Nath, Nimmi had a very prominent and well-received role and was an instant hit with the audiences.