Film debut and early work (1945–1954) Nutan first appeared briefly in front of the camera as a child in her father's film
Nal Damyanti in 1945. She started her career at age 14 by playing the protagonist in
Hamari Beti (1950), directed by her mother. She was conflicted during the making of the film, unsure she could pull it off given how critical she was of her appearance and talents. She took part in
Snehal Bhatkar's soundtrack for the film, singing the song "Tujhe Kaisa Dulha Bhaaye Re". The film released to considerable attention for Nutan's work.
The Motion Picture Magazine gave a scathing review of the film but took note of Nutan's "fine performance", which showed "great promise". She recalled an instance where her relatives changed their mind about her after watching the film: "The relatives who called me ugly changed their opinions overnight. They said they were proud of me."
Ravindra Dave's suspense thriller
Nagina (1951) followed, and Nutan's performance in the film gained her greater recognition. The film became her first commercial success. Aged 15 at the time of its release, she was not allowed to attend its premiere as it was certified "
A: (restricted for adults) and she was underage. The social drama
Hum Log, released the same year, was similarly popular with audiences. Directed by
Zia Sarhadi, the film dealt with the trials and tribulations of a middle-class family and starred Nutan as the daughter Paro, an aspiring writer who suffers from tuberculosis.
Nagina and
Hum Log consolidated her position as a rising star. The following year, she participated at the 1952
Femina Miss India contest, where she was crowned Miss Mussoorie, before being sent to Switzerland for further studies due to her weight loss and frail appearance.
Breakthrough, success and stardom (1955–1979) '' Her first big break was
Seema (1955), for which she won her first
Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She followed her success with a romantic comedy,
Paying Guest, in which she co-starred with
Dev Anand. By the late 1950s she was an established star. In 1959, she starred in two hit films,
Anari (with
Raj Kapoor) and
Bimal Roy's
Sujata (with
Sunil Dutt), for which she won her second Filmfare Award for Best Actress. In the 1960s and 1970s, she had many more successful films including
Chhalia (1960),
Saraswatichandra (1968),
Devi (1970) and
Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki (1978). In 1960, she starred opposite
Raj Kapoor once again in
Manmohan Desai's
Chhalia, which earned her a Filmfare nomination for Best Actress. In a film review at the time,
Filmfare wrote: "As the unfortunate girl disowned by her relatives for no fault of hers, Nutan puts over a superb and memorable portrayal." She formed a popular screen couple with co-star
Dev Anand and the two acted in four films together –
Paying Guest (1957),
Baarish (1957),
Manzil (1960) and
Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963). Bimal Roy's socio-realist
Bandini (1963) is based on
Tamasi, a Bengali novel by Jarasandha, and stars Nutan as Kalyani, a young prisoner convicted for poisoning the wife of her lover (
Ashok Kumar). The story follows her life in prison and how she is later faced with a choice between her past love and a young prison doctor (
Dharmendra) who falls in love with her. Having quit acting after marriage, Nutan was persuaded to accept the part by Roy, who asserted that he would abandon the project if she refused. She was pregnant during the making of the film.
Bandini was a major critical success, and Nutan received career-best reviews for her portrayal, which is often cited as one of the finest performances of Indian cinema. The film won six awards at the
11th Filmfare Awards, including
Best Film and a third Best Actress for Nutan. The
Bengal Film Journalists' Association ranked
Bandini as the third-best Indian film of the year and acknowledged Nutan with the
Best Actress award in its Hindi section. Author and critic
Dinesh Raheja wrote: "Sans screaming hysteria-niks, Nutan puts across one of the finest performances seen on Hindi screen. She recognised and was perfectly in tandem with Kalyani's innate strength of character." In 2010,
Filmfare included her performance in its "80 Iconic Performances" list.
Anupama Chopra included the film in her list of "The 20 Best Hindi Films Ever Made", calling Kalyani "one of Hindi cinema's most complex and fully realized female characters", which was "the role of a lifetime" for Nutan, whose "face raged with a grand passion and a quiet grace". In 2013,
Forbes India listed Nutan's performance as one of the "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema", hailing her work as "the best acting by a lead actress in Indian cinema". For this performance, she received an eighth Filmfare nomination and won her fifth Filmfare Award for Best Actress, at the age of 42. She thus became a record holder in the category, having won five awards for Best Actress at Filmfare. At age 42, she is also the oldest winner of the award. Nutan was perhaps the only actress of her generation to command leading roles in her 40s, with tremendous success.
Final film roles (1980–1989) Following this, she starred in
Saajan Ki Saheli (1981), as an ignorant, jealous wife to a husband who knowingly befriends the daughter she abandoned at childbirth. In the 1980s, she played roles in blockbuster films such as
Meri Jung (1985),
Naam (1986) and
Karma (1986).
Karma was notable for being the first time she was paired with actor
Dilip Kumar. For
Meri Jung, she won the
Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her last film released while she was alive was
Kanoon Apna Apna in 1989. She died in 1991 of cancer. Two of her films
Naseebwala (1992) and
Insaniyat (1994) were released after her death. She also gave a stellar performance as Kaliganj Ki Bahu in the TV serial
Mujrim Hazir, her only role on the small screen. Nutan also sang two songs, one in
Paying Guest and the other in
Chhabili. ==Personal life==