Nalini Jaywant (1926 – 2010)

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Back to Miss Photogenic – Nalini Jaywant
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Nalini Jaywant in Nau Bahar (1952)

When Shobhana Samarth joined films in 1934, her uncle was against society girls taking to films as a career. Six years later, he allowed his own teenage daughter to act in films. Nalini Jaywant made her debut in National Studios’ “Radhika” and won laurels for her sensitive portrayal. The film was directed by Virendra Desai who also directed her second film “Nirdosh”, opposite playback singer Mukesh.

She first gained some prominence in Mehboob Khan’s Bahen (1941), when she sang the Wajahat Mirza duet, Nahin khate hain bhaiyya mere paan, with Sheikh Mukhtar, central to the film’s incest theme.

During the wartime boom, Nalini appeared in only one film “Phir Bhi Apna Hai” (1946). Later she acted in her own production “Gunjan” (1948). In Anokha Pyar (1948) she starred with Dilip Kumar and Nargis, a love-triangle  where she outscored Nargis with her sensitive portrayal of village girl who sacrifices her love.

Her next important film was Samadhi (1950) opposite Ashok Kumar. Samadhi (1950) and Gyan Mukherji’s Sangram (1950) established Ashok and Nalini as a popular star pair. They appeared in a number of films together including “Kafila”, “Nau Bahar”, and “Naaz”. She played the role of Carmen in A.R. Kardar musical hit “Jadoo”, a spirited modern girl opposite Premnath in “Naujawan”, Radha in Vasant Joglekar’s “Nand Kishore”, and an emotional role in Devendra Goel’s “Aankhen”. Her finest acting came in Nau Bahar (1952) and Shikast (1953). In “Shikast” (1953) she was cast opposite Dilip Kumar and Dilip considers her as one of the greatest actresses ever he worked with, citing her instinct for grasping the essence of a scene as second to none.

An equally successful hit was “Munim Ji” which marked the debut of Subodh Mukerji as director. She starred opposite Shammi Kapoor in “Hum Sab Chor Hain,” directed by I.S. Johar for Filmistan. It was followed by “Rajkanya”, “Railway Platform” in which Sunil Dutt made his debut, and “Awaaz” opposite Rajendra Kumar. In Navketan’s “Kala Pani”, directed by Raj Khosla, she portrayed a prostitute and won Filmfare’s Best Supporting Actress Award (1958).

In her best-known work she usually functioned as the one who embraces life in counterpoint to the otherwise ‘realistic’ melodrama of R.S. Choudhury, Mehboob Khan and Mahesh Kaul (e.g. Naujawan). Later she developed a curiously autonomous, guilt-free performative style (e.g. the Navketan thriller Kala Pani). Her association with realism was extended by Ramesh Saigal, Bimal Roy and most notably Zia Sarhadi’s Awaaz, while films with Kardar (Jadoo), Mahesh Kaul (Naujawan, esp. the number Thandi hawaien) and Subodh Mukherjee developed the alternate musical persona exemplified by the 50s Filmistan musicals with Dev Anand (e.g. Munimji).

One of her last films was Amar Rahen Yeh Pyar (1961) directed by Prabhu Dayal. The film was never released in Bombay. Nalini Married Prabhu Dayal soon after and retired from films after completing her unfinished assignments.

She tried to make a comeback albeit unsuccessfully in the 80s with Bandish (1980) and playing Amitabh Bachchan’s blind mother in Nastik (1983). Nalini Jaywant passed away on December 20th, 2010 in tragically lonely circumstances at her bungalow in Chembur. Her relatives and those she had once worked with in the film industry were all unaware of the passing of the star who scaled the heights of fame in the 1940s and ’50s but had turned into a complete recluse for the last many years. May her soul rest in peace.

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