Shammi aunty, a familiar face from both large and small screens, has passed away.
Popularly known as Shammi Aunty, Nargis Rabadi was born to a Parsi family in Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1931. Her first film role was in 1949's Ustad Pedro, which starred Sheikh Mukhtar and Begum Para; Shammi was only 18 years old at the time. She changed her name to Shammi at the advice of director Tara Harish, because Nargis was already a hugely popular actor at the time. During the course of her career she would appear in over 200 Hindi films, usually as the second female lead or vamp or as a comic actor; she did however have lead roles in films such as Malhar and Sangdil. These did not prove successful and she was soon relegated to feature roles as a character actor, where she was lauded for her comic timing and willingness to play the patsy.
From the 1970's she mainly played mother to various heroes in films such as Purab Aur Paschim, Dharam Kanta, Adhikar, Samaj Ko Badal Dalo, Coolie No 1, Hum, Mardon Wali Baat, Gurudev and Gopi Kishan. She later began appearing in (mostly comic) Television programs, such as Dekh Bhai Dekh, Zabaan Sambhal Ke, Shriman Shrimati and Filmi Chakkar, which cemented her place as one Indian television's most popular grannies. Her last film role was in 2013's Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi, which starred Farah Khan and Boman Irani.
The news of her death broke when fashion designer Sandeep Khosla shared an image of the late actress on Instagram earlier today, with the caption: “We will miss you #you #will #always #remain #special #to #us #RIP #ShammiAunty #1929-2018 #loveyou #abujanisandeepkhosla #bestfriend #guide #family.”
Comments
0 comment