Bollywood actress Nanda passes away at 75

The Bollywood actress Nanda, best-known for her role in the 1965 romance Jab Jab Phool Khile opposite Shashi Kapoor, has died at age 75.

Nanda starred in more than 65 films over four decades, starting out in 1956 as a child artist. Courtesy Wikimedia

The Bollywood actress Nanda died on Tuesday morning after suffering cardiac arrest at her suburban Mumbai residence. She was 75.

“She breathed her last around 8.30am. It happened so suddenly we could not even call a doctor,” her sister-in-law, the actress Jaishree T, said in a statement.

Nanda was the daughter of the renowned actor and director Vinayak D Karnataki, and the niece of the legendary filmmaker V Shantaram.

She starred in more than 65 films over four decades, starting out in Bollywood in 1956 as a child artist to support her family after her father’s death.

After her first role in V Shantaram’s Toofan Aur Diya, she starred in hits such as Bhabhi (1957) and the Dev Anand-Waheeda Rehman film Kala Bazar (1960), followed by lead roles in Gumnaam (1965) with Manoj Kumar, with whom she teamed up again in Mera Kasoor Kya Hai (1964).

But Nanda is perhaps most famous for her role in the 1965 romance Jab Jab Phool Khile, starring opposite Shashi Kapoor.

In the late 1960s, she was seen with Rajesh Khanna, then a newcomer, in Ittefaq (1969); her performance in the suspense drama won her a Filmfare nomination for Best Actress. The duo also worked together in the thriller The Train (1970), as well as the comedy Joroo Ka Ghulam (1972).

She later began taking on supporting roles, and is still remembered for playing Padmini Kolhapure’s mother in Raj Kapoor’s 1982 film Prem Rog. Nanda is survived by two brothers. — IANS