Nargis Dutt: Courtesan’s Daughter Who Ruled Bollywood & Became Heroine to Repay Mother’s Debt

Posted By Admin 2025-03-12 20:17:27 Comments (10)

A long time ago, Sanjay Leela Bhansali had brought a series on Netflix named Hiramandi The Diamond Bazaar. This series revolves around the courtesan Mallika Jaan and her brothel living in Lahore of undivided India. During the British rule, there used to be brothels in all the cities of the country and courtesans were very famous. Today we will tell you the story of one such famous courtesan of Bollywood.

Entertainment Desk, New Delhi. Nargis Dutt was 20 years old when she played the role of a 70-year-old mother in Mehboob Khan's film Mother India. In this film, Nargis played the role of the mother of Sunil Dutt, who later became her husband, and Rajendra Kumar.

Even today people remember her as Mother India

With that role, Nargis proved her acting prowess so well that she is remembered even today. Nargis confessed that she never thought that this film would become synonymous with her career. She also did other women-centric films like Laajwanti and Raat aur Din but wherever she went, she was hailed as Mother India.

She came into films for her mother

But do you know that Nargis entered the film world to pay off her mother's debt? Yes, Nargis' mother started a production company in the year 1935. The first film of this production house was Talash-e-Haq. But they were continuously incurring losses and the debt was increasing. After this, Nargis left her studies and chose the path of acting.

Who was Nargis's mother?

Nargis was born as Fatima Rashid to Jaddanbai. Jaddanbani was a famous singer in the Indian film industry and one of the famous courtesans of Banaras. Jaddanbai's mother and Nargis' maternal grandmother Dalipabai was also a famous courtesan in the early 20th century. Jaddanbai's brothel did not have prostitution but only thumri and ghazals were presented.

She started acting in films at the age of 6

Jaddanbai had three marriages. Her third marriage was with Mohan Babu of a rich family of Lucknow. From this marriage, she had a daughter who was named Nargis. Nargis started her career at the age of 6 with her mother's film Talshe Haq. Till the age of 12, she worked in many films as a child artist.

Gave a record breaking film with Raj Kapoor

At the age of 14, Nargis played the lead role in Mehboob Khan's film Taqdeer. The film proved to be a hit. From 1949 to 1951, she starred in three blockbusters - Andaz, Barsaat and Awara. All of these broke the record of the highest-grossing Indian film, with Raj Kapoor opposite her in all these films.

In 1958, Nargis married her Mother India co-actor Sunil Dutt. They had three children from this marriage: Sanjay Dutt, Namrata Dutt and Priya Dutt.