Veteran actress Nanda passes away

Yesteryear Bollywood star Nanda, who lit the cinema screens in the 1960s and early 70s with her stellar performances in 'Hum Dono', 'Gumnaam' and 'Jab Jab Phool Khile', passed away today following a massive heart attack.
Family sources said the 75-year-old actress, who was the niece of legendary filmmaker V Shantaram, died this morning at her Andheri residence here.
"It is shocking as she did not have any history of illness," a relative of hers told PTI.
The actress, who excelled equally in playing a coy Indian beauty as well as roles with modern sensibilities, paired up with many stars onscreen including Ashok Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna and Shashi Kapoor.

Nanda was born in 1939 to Marathi actor-director Vinayak Damodar Karnataki.
But the family faced hardships after the death of Nanda's father in her childhood. Like many others of her era, Nanda started helping her family by becoming a child star. She made her debut with film 'Jaggu' in the 1950s.

It was Shantaram, her maternal uncle, who helped launch Nanda's career in Bollywood by casting her as a 17-year-old in 1956 hit 'Toofan Aur Diya'.
The film became a success and there was no looking back for the actress.
Nanda went on to rule the screen space from 1960 till 1973 with Nutan, Waheeda Rehman and Sadhna. Rehman became a lifelong friend of the introvert actress.

Some of her most memorable roles are in 'Jab Jab Phool Khile', 'Gumnaam' and 'Hum Dono'.
In 'Jab Jab Phool Khile', Nanda played her career's first westernised role and paired up with Shashi Kapoor with whom she went on to do eight films.
The Kashmir-set romance, however, remains their most famous pairing and influenced other Bollywood love-stories later.