Nadira (born Florence Ezekiel; 5 December 1932 – 9 February 2006), was an Indian actress who worked in the Hindi film industry. She appeared in films from the 1950s and 1960s, including ''

Aan ''Aan'' (Hindi: आन, Urdu: آن, translation: ''Pride''), released as ''The Savage Princess'' in the United Kingdom and United States, is a 1952 Indian Bollywood adventure film, produced and directed by Mehboob Khan. It was India's first t ...

'' (1952), ''

Shree 420 ''Shree 420'' (also spelled as ''Shri 420''; ) is a 1955 Indian Hindi comedy-drama film directed and produced by Raj Kapoor from a story written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas whose use of Shree with the negative connotations of 420 caused controversy. ...

(1955)'', ''

Pakeezah ''Pakeezah'' (; ) is a 1972 Indian Hindustani language, Hindustani-language Musical film, musical romantic drama film that was written, directed, and produced by Kamal Amrohi. The film stars Ashok Kumar, Meena Kumari, and Raaj Kumar. It tells ...

'' (1972), and '' Julie'' (1975), which won her the

Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award The Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role. Although the Filmfar ...

Early life

Nadira was born on 5 December 1932 in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

, into a Baghdadi Jewish family. When she was an infant, her family migrated from Baghdad to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

in search of business opportunities. She had two brothers, one of whom lives in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and another in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

."Jewish Stars of Bollywood"
Haaretz (newspaper), Published 14 April 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2021

Career

Nadira's first appearance in cinema was in the 1943

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

-language film '' Mauj'' when she was 10 or 11 years of age. Her breakthrough came from

Sardar Akhtar Sardar Akhtar (1915–1986) was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi and Urdu films. She started her acting career on the Urdu stage. Her early films were with Saroj Movietone, where she did a majority of stunt (action) roles. She came into pr ...

, wife of film director

Mehboob Khan Mehboob Khan (born Mehboob Khan Ramzan Khan; 9 September 1907
at filmreference.com. – 28 ...

who cast her in the film ''

'' (1952). Her role as a

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

princess in the film marked her rise to cinematic prominence. In 1955, she played a rich socialite named Maya in ''

''. She played pivotal roles in a number of films such as ''

Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai ''Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai'' () is a 1960 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film, produced by S. A. Bagar. It was written and directed by Kishore Sahu. The film stars Raaj Kumar, Meena Kumari and Nadira (actress), Nadira as leads. The film te ...

'' (1960), ''

'' (1972), '' Hanste Zakhm'' (1973), and ''

Amar Akbar Anthony ''Amar Akbar Anthony'' is a 1977 Indian Hindi-language masala film directed and produced by Manmohan Desai and written by Kader Khan. The film stars an ensemble cast of Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Neetu Singh, Parveen Babi, ...

'' (1977). She was often cast as a temptress or vamp, roles which were used as a foil to the chaste leading lady characters that were favoured at the time by the Hindi film industry. Nadira won a

Filmfare Award The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in the 1975 film '' Julie''. During the 1980s and 1990s, she mostly played supporting characters. Due to her image as a

Westernized Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, econo ...

woman, she often played roles of Christian or

Anglo-Indian Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The '' Oxford English ...

ladies. Her last role was in the film ''

Josh Josh is a masculine given name, frequently a diminutive (hypocorism) of the given names Joshua or Joseph, though since the 1970s, it has increasingly become a full name on its own. It may refer to: People A–J * "Josh", an early pseudonym of S ...

'' (2000). She was among the highest-paid actresses during her career, and was one of the first Indian actresses to own a

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

Personal life

In her later years, Nadira lived alone in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, as many of her relatives had moved to

. In the last three years before her death, she had been residing in her condominium with only a housekeeper. On 24 January 2006, she suffered a

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and poss ...

and was admitted to a hospital in a semi-comatose state. She had multiple existing health problems, including

tubercular meningitis Tuberculous meningitis, also known as TB meningitis or tubercular meningitis, is a specific type of bacterial meningitis caused by the ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' infection of the meninges—the system of membranes which envelop the central nerv ...

, alcoholic liver disorder, and paralysis. She died on 9 February 2006, aged 73, at the Bhatia Hospital in Tardeo, Mumbai, following a prolonged illness.

Filmography

References

External links