‘Aan’ Actress Nimmi Passes Away; Rishi Kapoor, Mahesh Bhatt & Celebs Pay Tribute

Yesteryears actress Nimmi passed away at her residence in the city on Wednesday evening. She was 88, and had been ailing for a while now. Her last rights will take place on Thursday afternoon.

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt was among the first to convey condolences. “You may win your hearts desire, but in the end you are cheated of it by death. Goodbye Nimmiji,” Bhatt wrote on Twitter.

Even Rishi Kapoor took to his Twitter page and wrote, “RIP. Thank you Nimmi aunty for all the blessings and love for Bobby on its premiere release. You were part of the RK family. Barsaat was your first film. Allha aapko Jannat naseeb kare. Ameen.”

Her demise was confirmed by trade analyst Komal Nahta on social media. “Yesteryear actress Nimmi ji passed away. She was 88. May her soul rest in peace,” tweeted Nahta.

Nimmi, whose name was Nawab Banoo, made her Bollywood debut in Raj Kapoor’s 1949 release, “Barsaat”, which was Kapoor’s first major hit. The film co-starred Nargis.

In fact, the screen name Nimmi was reportedly given to her by Kapoor.

Through the fifties and the sixties, the actress worked in films with most top actors, notably the Bollywood Triumvirate of the era — Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand. One of her earliest releases was Fali Mistry’s “Sazaa” starring Dev Anand in 1951. The same year, she worked with Dilip Kumar and Ashok Kumar in Nitin Bose’s “Deedar”.

She would go on to work with Dilip Kumar again in films like Mehboob Khan’s ambitious “Aan” and Amiya Chakravarty’s “Daag” the next year. By the time she reunited with Dev Anand in Chetan Anand’s 1952 release “Aandhiyan”, Nimmi was already a popular Bollywood name.

Her other notable films include “Uran Khatola (1955) with Dilip Kumar, the Ashok Kumar-Kishore Kumar starrer “Bhai-Bhai (1956), Sohrab Modi’s “Kundan” (1955), the Rajendra Kumar-starrer “Mere Mehboob” (1963) and “Akashdeep” (1965).

Among her memorable works also are Mehboob Khan’s “Amar” (1954) starring Dilip Kumar and Madhubala, and Raja Nawathe’s “Basant Bahar” (1956) co-starring Bharat Bhushan.