Personal life
Nutan was the eldest child of actress Shobhana Samarth. She had three other siblings, 2 younger sisters and a younger brother. Her younger sister Tanuja is also an actress. Her parents separated when she was still a child. Tanuja's older daughter Kajol is a successful actress in recent times and she has a younger daughter Tanisha.
On October 11, 1959, she married naval Lieutenant-Commander Rajnish Behl. Their son, Mohnish Behl, born in 1963, later entered films as well.
Nutan died in February 1991, of cancer, at the age of 54.
Nutan’s narrative as a human being is depicted in a book “Nutan – Asen Mi Nasen Mi” written by famous marathi author Lalita Tamhane. The book can be summarized as one describing Nutan’s life experiences, interactions with co-actors / family / friends etc. as told by her to Lalita Tamhane.
Career
Nutan was the daughter of actress Shobhna Samarth and director Kumarsen Samarth. She is related to many of the screen stars of the past fifty years.
She started her career as actress as a fourteen-year-old in Hamari Beti (1950). This film was produced by her mother, Shobhana. In 1952 she was the winner of Miss India.
Her first big break was Seema, for which she won a Filmfare Award. She followed her success with a romantic comedy, Paying Guest, in which she co-starred with Dev Anand. In 1959 she starred in two hit films, Anari (with Raj Kapoor) and Bimal Roy's Sujata (with Sunil Dutt). In the 1960s and 1970s she had many more successful films including Chhalia (1960), Bandini (1963), Saraswatichandra (1968), Devi (1970) and Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki (1978).
In the 1980s she played elderly mother roles in blockbuster films such as Meri Jung (1985), Naam (1986) and Karma (1986). Karma was notable for being the first time she was paired with actor Dilip Kumar. For Mere Jung she won a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her last film released while she was alive was Kanoon Apna Apna in 1989. She died in 1991 of cancer. Two of her films Naseebwala (1992) and Insaniyat (1994) were released after her death.
