MUMBAI: Bollywood icons Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu have mourned the death of actress Nimmi, saying her demise feels like a deep sense of personal loss.
Nimmi passed away at her residence in the city on Wednesday evening. She was 88, and had been ailing for a while now. Her last rights will take place on Thursday afternoon.
A tweet from Dilip Kumar's handle read: "Message from Saira Banu Khan: Dilip Sahab and I are feeling a deep sense of personal loss at the passing away of our beloved #Nimmiji". #Nimmi ji was my elder. She had always maintained close contacts with Sahab and I through her beautiful, loving, prolific, hand-written personal letters in Urdu."
The tweet also mentioned that Nimmi spent a good time with Saira's mother Naseem Banu.
"#Nimmi ji spent good time with my mother #NaseemBanu and through my mother and my husband, I built a bond with her. Such stalwarts are rare. Nimmi ji will be missed. May Allah bless her with Jannat. I have tears in my eyes as I am dictating this to @faisalmouthshut," the tweet said.
Through the fifties and the sixties, Nimmi worked in films with most top actors, notably the Bollywood Triumvirate of the era -- Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand. One of her earliest releases was Fali Mistry's "Sazaa" starring Dev Anand in 1951. The same year, she worked with Dilip Kumar and Ashok Kumar in Nitin Bose's "Deedar".
Her other notable films include "Uran Khatola (1955) with Dilip Kumar, the Ashok Kumar-Kishore Kumar starrer "Bhai-Bhai (1956), Sohrab Modi's "Kundan" (1955), the Rajendra Kumar-starrer "Mere Mehboob" (1963) and "Akashdeep" (1965).
Among her memorable works also are Mehboob Khan's "Amar" (1954) starring Dilip Kumar and Madhubala, and Raja Nawathe's "Basant Bahar" (1956) co-starring Bharat Bhushan.
Nimmi's last release was K. Asif's much-delayed "Love And God", a retelling of the Laila-Majnu story. Asif started the project in 1963, and the film released long after his death in 1986, after several changes in the cast and crew. The released film had Sanjeev Kumar and Nimmi in the lead roles.
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