On the passing of yesteryears actress Shammi, her best friend Nargis’s daughter Priya Dutt shared, “May her soul rest in peace and her laughter and contagious smile rock the heavens.” It will. Shammi Aunty, as she was known by one and all, was just that kind of person. Here’s a closer look at the lady everyone loved…
“Thank god, I emerged as a character actress"
She had spine! Born Nargis Rabadi in 1929 into a family of Parsi priests, the 18-year-old Shammi bucked convention and joined films at the behest of a family friend. She hadn’t even watched many films when she joined the industry in 1949. And on the rare occasion that she and her sister did sneak out to the cinema, they would be caught out – “our clothes stank of cigarette smoke. In those days, everybody smoked inside the theatres!” she had laughed.
She never complained about her circumstances and did whatever had to be done. Her father died when she was only three and her mother made a living by cooking at religious functions. Shammi and her elder sister Mani Rabadi actually worked in toy factories after school to pay their tuition fees. Past school, they worked at offices, ran a magazine and did odd jobs.
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Blessed with an unfailing optimism, Shammi Aunty would describe herself as “happy, satisfied and busy”. She would add, “I have been lucky too. Always had enough work, am treated with the respect due to a senior artiste and have made many wonderful friends.”
She was the only woman member of music director C Ramachandra's troupe which visited the border areas to entertain troops. Apparently, the defence ministry did not permit her to go, till Ramachandra argued that she could rough it out like any other man. She was also a permanent fixture with Sunil and Nargis Dutt's Ajanta Arts Troupe. They gave the money collected to needy artistes.
Shammi Aunty had a huge friends circle, including Nimmi, Waheeda Rehman, Nanda, Saira Banu, Shyama and Begum Para. They would all have a blast, meeting up, going out for films and lunches, gossiping and giggling galore.
Her most inseparable friend for many years was the legendary Nargis – coincidentally, Shammi’s own original name was also Nargis. Nargis had introduced her to reading and they were always in close contact for several years. She recalled that they “hunted for books, ate bhel puri and did so many things together,” until Nargis’s untimely death in 1981.
When her marriage broke down in 1980, she left the house without any cash in hand, even leaving her car behind. She returned to the old house she shared with her mother in Bandra, preferring not to comment on her ex-husband.
She never resented being typecast in comic roles, though she was a heroine in her earlier films. “Thank god, I emerged as a character actress,” she would laugh. “If I had remained a heroine, I would have continued to play purely ornamental roles, with the hero chasing me around trees!”
When the roles on the big screen dwindled, she made a smooth transition to television. She is still remembered for her work in serials like ‘Dekh Bhai Dekh’, ‘Shriman Shrimati’ and ‘Kabhi Yeh Kabhi Who’. She was also the executive producer of serials produced by Asha Parekh on Indian music directors.
She last made her feisty comeback with Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi in 2013, playing the Parsi matriarch. In the same film, Daisy Irani, who had worked with Shammi in her first film as a child artist for the film Bandish in 1955, played her daughter-in-law.
"Happy, satisfied and busy"
