Kamini Kaushal

Kamini Kaushal (born 16 January 1927) is a Hindi film and television actress, most noted for her roles in films like Neecha Nagar (1946) which won the 1946 Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at Cannes Film Festival and Biraj Bahu (1955) which won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award in 1955. She played lead heroine in films from 1946 to 1963 wherein her roles in Do Bhai, Shaheed(1948), Ziddi, Shabnam, Nadiya Ke Paar, Arzoo, Paras(1949), Namoona, Jhanjar, Aabru, Night Club, Jailor, Bade Sarkar and Godaan are considered her career's best performances. She played character roles since 1963 and was critically acclaimed for her performances in Shaheed (1965),in 3 films of Rajesh Khanna like Prem Nagar, Do Raaste, Mahachor and with Sanjeev Kumar - Anhonee (1973 film) and 8 films with Manoj Kumar.

Early life

Kamini Kaushal was born Uma Kashyap in Lahore on 16 January 1927. She was the youngest among two brothers and three sisters. Kamini Kaushal was the daughter of Prof Shiv Ram Kasyap Professor of Botany, Punjab University at Lahore, British India (now in Pakistan). Prof Kashyap is widely regarded as father of Indian Botany. Her father was a distinguished botanist who discovered six species of plants.While she was only seven when her father died on 26 November 1934. She did her B.A. (honours) in English literature from Kinnaird College in Lahore. She got an offer to act in films through Chetan Anand in 1946 for the film Neecha Nagar.