OG Heera Mandi From Lahore: Meet The Most Famous ‘Tawaif’ Who Turned Into Pakistan’s Highest-Paid Item Girl In Films – Here’s Why She Was Shot Dead By Her Husband!
Heera Mandi was an actual place in Lahore which was called the Shahi Mohalla with its own set of rules unless one woman broke the norms!
A Still From Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heera Mandi Streaming On Netflix (Photo Credit – IMDb)
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Sanjay Leela Bhansali‘s Heeramandi has been streaming on Netflix, and the show has brought back alive the Shahi Mohalla of Lahore, which was meant for Tawaifs. It has also brought back stories about women who, after spending years on Kotha as Tawaifs, changed their profession.
Today, we bring you the story of one such woman who was an actual resident of Lahore’s Heera Mandi. The woman attracted major film producers of those days through her impeccable dancing skills. The woman who was Niggo!
Nargis Begum was born in the Kothas of Heera Mandi and grew up learning and performing Mujras. But her life turned upside down when she entered the Pakistan Film Industry. Her journey from a Kotha in Lahore to the silver screen was a fairy tale that had a heartbreaking end.
Nargis Begum turned Niggo when she was picked by a Lollywood producer from Heera Mandi for the first time to perform an item dance for his film Ishrat in 1964. As the talented dancer entered the showbiz, there was no looking back for her. She worked on almost 100 films, including some Urdu and Punjabi remakes of Bollywood.
Love On Sets
Niggo was one of the highest-paid item girls in Pakistan. She was the first choice to perform Mujras in films due to her firm grip over the art form. It was in 1972 that Niggo fell in love with a producer, Khawaja Mazhar, who was producing her film Qusu. They got married, and Niggo left Heera Mandi.
Mother Plays The Evil Card
According to those days, it was customary to pay for ‘tawaifs’ who were picked from Heera Mandi. No girl could leave the kothas of the red light area in order to get married without compensating the family. Once Niggo got married and left, her mother conspired with an evil plan and faked her illness.
The actress came back to nurse her ailing mother, but she was brainwashed by her entire family and Heera Mandi, and the actress stayed back, refusing to leave her family despite her husband pleading to come back.
The Tragic End!
After failed attempts, there came a day when Niggo’s husband lost his calm and drove his car to Heera Mandi. The actress was at her mother’s home when her husband opened fire at her, killing her. Two of her uncles also died in the unfortunate incident.
Khawaja Mazhar was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment and died a natural death many years later at his ancestral home in Pakistan.
