Tributes to Nutan - What other's have said about her
Shobana
Samarth - Actress/Nutan's mother
"We had our differences, but towards the end of her life we came very close and for the last few years had a great rapport. She knew she was dying and she was preparing me for it. She gave me a copy of the Gita and asked me to read the chapter on death first. We had developed such mental telepathy that I just had to think of her and the doorbell would ring and she would be standing in front of me.
She sang beautifully and wrote beautiful bhajans during the last years of her life. I grieve for her and remember her often, but I tell myself that perhaps she is happier. It is strange but in death, she has made me a better human being. I was a fiery and intolerant person -- after Nutan's death, I am able to bear most things. I feel no loss will be as great as losing her, and that has made me more tolerant."
Tanuja - Actress/Nutan's Sister
"She used to write beautiful
bhajans, she used to sing beautifully ... I would say that she
was the epitomy of what an artist is. She was much older than us
so we didn't expect her to play hot and cold with us or hide and
seek. All my friends, I think were better friends with her than I
was"
Mohnish Bahl - Actor/Nutan's Son
"Maine ehsas kiya hai doosre logon ne bhi ehsas kiya hai, unke haathon se chandan ki khushboo aati thi. Yeh nahi ke matlab chandan ka sabun istimal karti thi ya mandir mein chandan ka paste banaya unanhe ya kuch aise. Achanak kabhi na kabhi aa jaati thi."
(I have noticed and other people have noticed that her hands used to emaniate the smell of sandalwood. It wasn't anything like she used to use sandalwood soap or that she made sandalwood paste in the temple, or anything like that. It used to just come suddenly, sometimes)
"Nahana sikhati thi. She used to teach me how to have a bath. Matlab I must wash under my armpits and the soles of my feet and all that. Us ke upar points milte the. It was a very nice learning process."
(She used to teach me how to have a bath .... Meaning I must wash .... I used to receive points on that .. )
Shuba Khote - Actress/Comidienne
"During Seema I met Nutan, she was an established actress by then, but had taken a break to study further and Seema was her come back vehicle. Nutan was such a fine person, she sensed that I was feeling nerous as it was my first film, she put me at ease. We were very close friends till her demise.
Nutan and I played pranks on people. I still remember once on April 1st, we called up the home of an actor, and when his wife picked up the phone, Nutan pretended she was a woman calling from Delhi and wanted desperately to talk to the actor. The wife got suspicious and the poor actor really had it in when he returned home."
Sadhana - Actress
"Interestingly, Raj Khosla (as did
Bimal Roy) insisted that I reminded him of Nutan. Nutan was my
favourite actress but I never consciously copied her. Raj
Khosla's dream was to pit Nutan against me in a film. It didn't
happen and years later, the film was finally made as Basera with
Raakhee and Rekha."
Amitabh Bachchan - Actor
"Since Nutanji was
extremely natural one identified with her immediately." 
Vinod Khanna - Actor
A "phenomenally perfect
face."
Sarosh Mody - Make-up Artist
"Don't you know she's a cameraman's dream because she has no bad angles!"
On her death ................
Rajendra Kumar - Actor
"Nutanji
kitni accha kalakar thi woh to sari duniya jaanti hai, kehne ki
zaroorat nahin hai. As an Insaan, Dost, kaisiye se bahut acchi
thi. Bahut disciplined artist thi, tabiyat ki bahut sadaat thi,
bahut emotional thi, sensitive thi. Lekin filmon mein jitna woh
serious kaam karti thi, zindagi mein iske baks bahut 'full of
life' jisko kethe hai. Bahut comedy karti thi, hasti thi hasati
thi. Bahut acchi dost thi, bahut acchi insaan thi. Hamari film
industry ko bahut bahut bara nuqsan hua hai. Yeh aise log hain
jinki jaga jo hai, puri ki ni ja sakti, ek dam aate hai, chale
jaate hain."
(The whole world knows how excellent an actress Nutan was, there's no need for me to say it, it's understood. As a person, a friend she was very good. She was a very disciplined artist, she had a very peaceful temperament, she was very emotional, very sensitive. But, considering the amount of serious work that she did in films, in real life her mood was very 'full of life' as you say. She used to do a lot of comedy, she used to laugh, make others laugh. She was a very good friend, a very good person. Our film industry has suffered a very very great loss. These are people whose places cannot be filled, they come suddenly, and leave."
Sunil Dutt - Actor
"Unke
ki saath maine kaafi filmen kiye, aur jitni bhi filmen kiye un
mein se sab bahut kamyaab rahi hai, Sujata, Khandaan, Meharbaan,
Milan. Maine aksar unko set pe zayda dekha kyunke set pe hamari
mulaqat hoti thi. Woh hamesha bahut hi quiet, khamosh thi, aur
kabhi aisa masoos nahin hua tha un ke saath kaam karte huye ke
kitni bari kalakar se kaam hum kare hai. Aur set pe bhi doosre
chote chote kalakaron ke saat unka bara accha ristha tha. Unanhe
kabhi jataya nahin tha ke woh itni mahaan kalakar itni great
artist hai. Aksar aisa hota hai ke jab aadmi star ban jaata hai
to toda bahut uske ander ek ajeeb tarha ki 'air' aati hai jo
unmein nahin thi, aur yehi sab se acchi khoobi thi un mein ke woh
apne kirdar ko, jo character jo play karti thi, woh apne aap ko
aasani se dissolve kar sakthi thi kyunke jo aadmi apne aap ko
bahut kalakar, bara star samajhne lag jaata hai to woh star ki
image meinhi kho jaata hai, aur basic character jo play karta
hai, usmein zayda uska nahin hota hai isli unki jitne bhi filmen
aap dekhiye aap ko pata chalega ke woh kitni involved hai woh
apna role karne mein."
(I have done many films with Nutan, and all the films that we did have been very successful, Sujata, Khandaan, Meharbaan, Milan. I frequently saw her on set as we used to meet on set. She was always very quiet, and she never made us feel that we were working with such a big star. And on the sets her relationship with the smaller artists was very good. She never gloated or boasted that she was such a great artist. Often what happens is that when a person becomes a star, a strange kind of 'air' develops inside of them, that wasn't present in her, and this is was her best quality that she could easliy dissolve herself from the character that she was playing, because a person that starts to consider themselves a great artist, a big star, they become lost in the star image and the basic character that they play doesn't contain much of them, this is why however many films you will see of hers, you will realise how involved she gets into her role.)
Shammi Kapoor - Actor
"She was a very fine artist and she was a very fine human
being. We worked together in a picture called Laila Majnu in 1953
and over the years we have been very close. The film industry has
lost a very dedicated person. May god give her son and her
husband the strength to bear this loss."
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