Nalini Jaywant

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Nalini Jaywant was a first-rate Indian movie actress in her professional days.

She is first cousin to actress Shobhna Samarth, (who was the mother of Nutan and Tanuja). Nalini's father and Shobhna's mother, actress Rattan Bai, were siblings. ^[1]

Dilip Kumar considered her the greatest actress he ever worked with, citing her instinct for grasping the essence of a scene as second to none. A Filmfare poll in the 1950s named her the most beautiful woman in the Indian movie world. She acted opposite all top actors of her time, barring Raj Kapoor, in highly successful movies, Samadhi (1950), Jaadu (1951), Nastik (1954), Munimjee (1955), Mr. X (1957), and Kaala Pani (1958). She received much critical acclaim for her performances in Rahi (1952), Shikast (1953), Railway Platform (1955), and Awaaz (1956).

Nalini Jaywant was born in Bombay in 1926. In her teens, she got some prominence through her performance in Mehboob's Bahen (1941), a movie about a brother's obsessive love for his sister. The movie had strong shades of incest. She performed in a few more movies before receiving public's notice in Anokha Pyaar (1948). The movie involved a a love triangle among characters played by Dilip Kumar, Nargis, and Nalini, Nalini's character sacrificing her love for the hero played by Dilip Kumar. Nalini's performance in that movie proved to be the movie's saving grace.

1950 was a breakthrough year for Nalini when she became a top star with her performances opposite Ashok Kumar in Samadhi and Sangram. Samadhi was a patriotic drama concerning Subash Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army. Though the leading movie magazine of the day, Filmindia, called Samadhi politically obsolete, it was a high success at the box office. The song Gore Gore O Banke Chhore sung by a playback singer for Nalini's character in Samadhi had become immensely popular. Sangram was a crime drama wherein she played the heroine reforming the anti-hero. Nalini and Ashok Kumar performed together in several more movies: Kafila (1952), Naubahar (1952), Saloni (1952), Mr. X, and Sheroo (1957).

Nalini remained an important leading actress through the midfifties. Moviemakers K. A. Abbas (Rahi), Ramesh Saigal (Shikast and Railway Platform), and Zia Sarhady (Awaaz) extended Nalini Jaywant’s association with realistic movies, while moviemakers Mahesh Kaul (Naujavan (1951)) and AR Kardar (Jaadu) developed her musical persona. She performed admirably in successful Filmistan musicals, Nastik (opposite Ajit) and Munimjee (opposite Dev Anand).

1958 movie, Kaala Pani directed by Raj Khosla, was Nalini's last successful movie. That year, she won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for her performance in that movie as a shady nautch girl, Kishori, who formed a "key witness" in framing the hero's father for a murder. Her come-hither mujra in S. D. Burman's composition, Nazar Laage Raaja Tore Bangle pe and her tearful looks at Dev Anand from across the room in Burman's Hum Bekhudi Mein were memorable.

Bombay Race Course (1965) was Nalini's last main movie, though she did make a comeback of sorts playing a blind mother in Nastik (1983). (This Nastik had no connection with Nastik(1954) in which she had starred.)

Since 1983, she has been living mostly a reclusive life. ^[2]

She was married to director Virendra Desai in the 1940s. Then she was rumored to have a romance with her co-star Ashok Kumar.^[3]. Later, she married her second husband, actor Prabhu Dayal, with whom she acted with in several movies. ^[4]