Bollywood bids tearful adieu to actress Nanda

Bollywood veterans and a number of fans bid tearful adieu to yesteryear actress Nanda who was cremated at suburban Oshiwara here today.

Nanda's family members, relatives and several Bollywood personalities were present at the last rites held at Oshiwara electric crematorium. The yesteryear Bollywood star (75), who lit the cinema screens in the 1960s and early 70s with her stellar performances in 'Hum Dono', 'Gumnaam' and 'Jab Jab Phool Khile', passed away today following a massive heart attack.

Her friends from the industry Asha Parekh, Waheeda Rehman, Shabana Azmi, Salim Khan, Ketan Desai, Tabassum paid tribute to the departed soul.

Nanda was briefly engaged to director Manmohan Desai before he died in 1994 and remained unmarried ever since.

Born to Marathi film actor-director Vinayak Damodar Karnataki, Nanda began her silver screen career early as a child artist with 'Jaggu' in the 50s. Nanda's popularity as a child actress made her transition to major roles easier, and she literally grew up on film sets. 

But it was her paternal uncle-filmmaker V Shantaram who gave Baby Nanda a big break by casting her in 1956 hit 'Toofan Aur Diya' in 1956.
Since the success of 'Toofan Aur Diya', Nanda did not look back and went on to establish herself in the Hindi film industry.
Her filmography comprised hits like 'Jab Jab Phool Khile', 'Gumnaam', 'Teen Deviyan', 'The Train', 'Mandir', 'Angarey', 'Ram Laxman', 'Bandi', 'Ittefaq', 'Hum Dono', 'Prayashchit', 'Ahista Ahista', 'Prem Rog' and 'Mazdoor' among others.

The actress, who excelled equally in playing a coy Indian beauty as well as roles with modern sensibilities, paired up with many stars onscreen including Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna and Shashi Kapoor