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Nagma
Born
Nandita Morarji
Other namesNamratha Sadhana
Years active1990- present
Height5 ft 5 in (165 cm)

Nandita Morarji (Namratha Sadhana) better known as Nagma (Hindi: नघमा; Tamil: நக்மா), is a somewhat controversial Indian actress, known primarily for her work in Bollywood and Kollywood. At her peak in the 1990s, she "dominated Tamil cinema," to quote The Hindu.[1] Born of a Muslim mother and a Hindu father on Christmas Day,[2] she began her acting career in Bollywood and acted in a few movies but shifted south where she met with greater success before returning to Mumbai. Although sometimes listed in film credits as Naghma, she should not to be confused with an earlier actress who went by the same stage name - that mistake is made in her listing on the Internet Movie Database website.[3] Fluent in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and English, Nagma is notable for having acted in a broad range of India's languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, and now Marathi.[4]

Politics

File:NagmaEkJindEkJaan.JPG
Nagma in Ek Jind, Ek Jaan (2006), her first Punjabi film role

A vocal supporter of India's Congress Party,[5] in 2007 Nagma was recommended for an Andhra Pradesh Rajya Sabha seat.[6] She had been a key star campaigner for the Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh during the April 2004 elections.[7] She had only formally become a member of the Congress Party in Hyderabad earlier that same month, reportedly citing its 'commitment towards secularism and welfare of the poor and weaker sections' as her reason for joining.[8] She is said to have been earlier courted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which an Indo-Asian News Service report said "had even indicated that she might be fielded [as a BJP candidate] from Hyderabad" in the same election.[9] Nagma has elsewhere been cited as saying that she first supported the Congress Party because of her admiration for Rajiv Gandhi.[10]

In a 2006 interview, aptly titled "Nagma the Survivor," she made a direct link between her family history and her political activism: "My mom is Muslim and my dad is Hindu. We were brought up to respect all religions. Communal riots pained me. I wanted to do something. So I joined politics." In the same interview, she also notes that she turned down an offer to run for India's Lok Sabha because of her film career: "If I wanted to become a member of Parliament I would need to give 100 per cent to my constituency -- which I could not at that point of time."[11] However, in an interview with the Hindustan Times in 2007, she said "politics will continue and so will my acting. Mind you, I’m an actress first. I want to act till my dying day."[12] Interestingly, her last lead role in a major Bollywood film was opposite fellow Congress Party member and now M.P. Govinda, who continues to film movies while a member of the Lok Sabha.

Perhaps mindful of her nascent political career, Nagma has said that she medidates daily and considers herself to be "a very God-loving person." In line with her own family's mixed religious background, she has stated that she has read the Qur'an, Bhagavad Gita, and Bible.[13]

Film Career and Controversies

File:Baaghi.jpg
DVD cover for Baaghi: A Rebel for Love (1990)

Nagma had considerable success with her 1990 hit debut film Baaghi,[14] co-starring Salman Khan; she was 15 at the time. Along with Karisma Kapoor, she was also one of the female leads in 1994's Suhaag which also featured Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgan. Despite this initial success, she moved south to star in Tamil and Telugu movies at the behest of her friend Divya Bharti. Later explaining her shift south, she cited not only what she considers the higher quality of the work, but also stated that "I did what was best then! I was a girl with a Muslim name and the Shiv Sena was slowly raising its head."[15] She became a major star in the south and remained so for much of the 1990s, at least until 1997, and reportedly had a temple dedicated to her by fans in Tamil Nadu.[16]

Movie poster for Kadhalan (1994), featuring Nagma and Prabhu Deva

Her major hits in Telugu include 1993's Gharana Mogudu with Chiranjeevi, Allari alludu with Nagarjuna and Major Chandrakanth with NTR and Mohan Babu. Her main Tamil hits were Baasha with superstar Rajnikanth and 1994's Kadhalan with Prabhu Deva. In 1995, Kadhalan is said to have become the first Tamil movie to be dubbed into Hindi, in which it was renamed Hum Se Hai Muqabala.[17] During this period she was rumored to have been involved in a relationship with Tamil actor Sarath Kumar, who was in significant debt at that time.[18] Most of her performances in this era were glamourous roles with little substance.

Following alleged death threats by Sarath Kumar, and as her southern movie career was stalled by type-casting, she moved back to Mumbai. In an interview in 2001, she is reported to have said "The pressure of being the number one actress in Tamil cinema was getting to me. I was unhappy with the kind of films I was doing. I couldn't do the kind of work I wanted to because I had to go by the dictates of what the audience expected of a much-in-demand actress. I was stagnating so I decided to take a break."[19]. Again based in Bollywood, she focused on supporting roles in major hits such as 2000's Chal Mere Bhai, which reunited her with former costars Karisma Kapoor, Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt. Media reports in 2001 linked her romantically with cricketer Sourav Ganguly, although both denied the story.[20] Within a year, Nagma enrolled in the spriritually-oriented Art of Living course, eventually teaching it herself in Mumbai and elsewhere.[21] While based in Mumbai, she continued to worked in some Telugu and Tamil movies, such as Allari Ramudu and Citizen, playing significant supporting roles, as well as taking leading roles in some Malayalam films.

During 2005, Nagma was alleged to be involved with the Mumbai underworld - a fairly common story in Bollywood. Media stories claimed she was the muse of Dawood Ibrahim's younger brother Anees Ibrahim. According to newspaper reports which claimed to be citing police sources, Anees fell for Nagma in 1992 during the shooting of the Sanjay Dutt vehicle Yalgaar in Mauritius, where they met. She was allegedly paid Rs 10 lakhs by Anees' henchmen at her Mumbai residence in return for sexual pleasures enjoyed by Anees with her. Calling the accusation "politically motivated," Nagma, predictably, denied any links to Dawood, saying "The allegations are completely baseless."[22] At the time the story was reported, Nagma was "a prominent campaigner for the Congress party... on the election trail for the party in Bihar and Jharkhand."[23] She is quoted on the front page of the Telegraph as asking at the time "Why were the reports made public when I have just returned from successful political campaigning in Jharkhand?"[24]

File:Ab Ta Banja Sajnwa Hamaar.JPG
Nagma and Ravi Kishan in Ab Ta Banja Sajnwa Hamaar (2006)

Nagma is currently a major star in Bhojpuri movies, where she has again found success as a leading lady. She was notably successful when paired against the "Big Boss" reality show participant Ravi Kishan, with whom she was also linked romantically in real life.[25] Called by some "the Madhuri Dixit of Bhojpuri cinema,"[26] she won a Best Actress award at the 2005 Bhojpuri Film Awards for her performance in Dulha Milal Dildar.[27] In 2006's Ganga, she starred as Ganga opposite Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini. When asked why she shifted to Bhojpuri films, she stated that "I wanted to do films in different languages. I have already done movies in 10 languages. My first Bhojpuri film 'Panditji Bataayina Biyaah Kab Hoii' was a huge hit. After that the offers poured in and they were too good to be ignored."[28] When interviewed by The Hindu in Delhi in April 2007, she also indicated that another important reason for her decision to focus on Bhojpuri films was to help with her political campaigning.[29]

Discussing her career in a Mid-Day interview in September 2006, Nagma is quoted as saying: "I have learnt nine languages, so I want to do films in all languages. ... On the Hindi film front, I am in the process of signing a very big period thriller. I am getting to do a variety of roles with content, so I am satisfied."[30] While noting her commitment to complete several Bhojpuri films she is currently involved with, in March 2007, she expressed her intention to next focus on returning to Hindi films after wrapping up her current projects.[31] In her 2007 Hindustan Times interview, in which she discusses her future plans for cinema and politics, Nagma responded to a question about her reputation for controversy by saying: "You need guts to deal with controversies. Of course, whether it’s for negative or positive reasons, I’ve always been in the news."[32]

Family

Nagma's biological father was Sri Arvind Pratapsinh Morarji, the late textile magnate. Her mother is Seema Sadhana, who married Morarji in 1972, separating only "a few years later," as The Telegraph reported in 2006 when Nagma made the information public.[33]. According to Nagma's passport, the name given to her at birth was Nandita,[34] and it is by that name that she was referred to in an obituary printed by the family when her father, Arvind Morarji, died.[35] Nagma thus had a Hindu father and a Muslim mother. After divorcing Morarji "due to some family problems," Nagma's mother later married Chander Sadhana, a film producer, with whom she had two other daughters, Jyothika (herself a major Kollywood star) and Radhika, as well as a son, Rahul. Through her biological father, who later re-married, Nagma has two more half-brothers, Dhanraj and Yuvraj.[36].

Nagma remained close to her biological father up until his death on 1 January 2006. She explained to one Mumbai reporter that: "I am proud of the fact that I belong to the respectable Dharamsinh Morarji family. My mother was legally married to Arvind Morarji at a public function at Radio Club at Colaba." It was Nagma's mother who encouraged her to become an actress, and is said to have been her "constant companion on film sets" for several years.[37] In the spirit of her father's background in textiles, Nagma herself now has a clothing boutique on Mumbai's Hill Road called Nagma's, which was inaugurated in September 2003 by Akshay Kumar.[38]

Nagma has led a very different life from her half-sister Jyothika, who was not successful as a star in Bollywood but who found major success in Tamil movies. Unlike Nagma, Jyothika's public image is free of controversies. Jyothika married Tamil heartthrob Surya Sivakumar in September 2006. Nagma herself, while romantically linked to a number of men, is single. Unsurprisingly for someone whose own parents divorced when she was young, she told Mid-Day in 2006 that "I am not hell-bent on getting married. ... Unless you are dead sure about your guy, you shouldn't get married. ... Marriage is an institution I would like to get into, but only if I find the perfect man."[39]

Filmography

Year Film Role Other notes
2008 Subway Expected to star Sunny Deol.
2007 Back To Honeymoon Filming in London in May 2007; written, produced and directed by Manoj Bhatnagar[40]
2007 Thamp Lakshmi Thamp Lakshmi Marathi film under production
2007 Tu Hamaar Hou Bhojpuri remake of Darr
2006 Ek Jind, Ek Jaan Nimmi First Punjabi film role.[41]
2006 Gangaa Ganga Bhojpuri film with Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan.
2006 Ab Ta Banja Sajnwa Hamaar Major Bhojpuri hit co-starring Saira Banu and Ravi Kishan.
2006 Mai Baap
2006 Dil Diwana Tohar Ho Gayil First film directed by Bollywood choreographer Saroj Khan[42]
2006 Raja Thakur
2005 Panditwa Mera Shaadi Kab Hoi
2005 Dulha Milal Dildar Best Actress award, Bhojpuri Film Awards[43]
2005 Panditji Batai Na Byah Kab Hoi First Bhojpuri film role
2005 Pariraam First Bengali film role
2004 Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo Aarti V. Singh
2003 Hrudayavantha Kannada film starring opposite Vishnuvardhan
2002 Chathurangam Nayana Pillai First film starring opposite Malayalam superstar Mohanlal
2002 Allari Ramudu Chamundeswari First time playing mother to the lead heroine
2001 Sai Teri Maya Sai Baba devotional film, starring with S.P. Balsubramanian and Rami Reddy
2001 Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar Anupama Verma
2001 Citizen CBI Sarojini Arichandran
2001 Ek Rishtaa: The Bond of Love Special Appearance
2001 Dheena Special Appearance Starring Ajith
2000 Kunwara Sharmila Singh Starring opposite Govinda and Urmila Matondkar
2000 Chal Mere Bhai Sonia
2000 Papa The Great Mrs. Pooja Jai Prakash
1999 Lal Baadshah Special Appearance
1999 Singer
1998 Sreekrishnapurathe Nakshathrathilakkam Malayalam film starring opposite Mukesh
1997 Kaun Rokega Mujhe Govinda vehicle
1997 Khel Khiladi Ka
1997 Pistha Starring opposite Karthik
1997 Love Birds Mridula Starring opposite Prabhu Deva
1997 Aravindan
1996 Sarada Bullodu Telugu film starring opposite Venkatesh
1996 Mettu Kudi Starring opposite Karthik
1996 Miya Biwi Aur Saali Shivani Hansraj
1996 Sabse Bada Mawali Priya
1995 Suryaputrulu
1995 Baasha Priya Co-starring with Rajinikanth
1995 Mounam
1995 Rikshavodu Rani
1994 Kadhalan Shruthi Winner, Filmfare Best Actress Award (Tamil)
1994 Suhaag Madhu Starring with Akshay Kumar, Karisma Kapoor and Ajay Devgan
1994 Super Police Telugu film starring opposite Venkatesh
1994 Gang Master
1994 Mugguru Monagallu Telugu film starring opposite Chiranjeevi
1993 Dhartiputra
1993 Hasti Neena Narang Starring with Jackie Shroff and Naseeruddin Shah
1993 King Uncle Kavita With Jackie Shroff, Shahrukh Khan and Anil Kapoor
1993 Allari Alludu
1993 Rendilla Poojari
1993 Kondapalli Raja
1993 Varasudu Telugu film starring opposite Nagarjuna
1992 Yalgaar Anu Singhal Starring opposite Sanjay Dutt
1992 Ashwamedham Telegu film starring opposite Balakrishna
1992 Parampara
1992 Bewaffa Se Waffa Nagma Starring with Juhi Chawla and Mehmood
1992 Dilwale Kabhi Na Hare Anjali Oberoi
1992 Major Chandrakanth With NTR and Mohan Babu
1992 Gharaana Mogudu Uma Devi Telugu film starring opposite Chiranjeevi
1992 Police Aur Mujrim Meena Khanna Starring opposite Vinod Khanna
1991 Killer Telugu film starring opposite Nagarjuna
1991 Peddinti Alludu First Telugu film, starring opposite Suman
1990 Baaghi: A Rebel for Love Kaajal, a.k.a. "Paro" Bollywood debut co-starring Salman Khan[44]

References

  1. ^ "Nagma plays mother" in The Hindu (18 July 2002), at [1]
  2. ^ As she herself has pointed out; see, e.g., "Revealed: Nagma's real Dad" in Mumbai Mirror (22 April 2006), online at http://www.icravebollywood.com/news/22april06/nagma.php[2] and http://movies.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1498649,curpg-5.cms [3]. See also "Nagma - Quick Facts" at http://www.bollywoodgate.com/indian-actresses/nagma.html [4]
  3. ^ "Nagma" listing on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), www.imdb.com at [5]
  4. ^ "Nagma excels in nine languages!" Idleburra.com (30 Nov.2006) at [6]
  5. ^ See, e.g., "Nagma's New Role" in Mid-Day (9 Oct.2006) at [7]; and "Congress ducks questions on Nagma's campaigning" PTI (14 Feb. 2005) at [8]
  6. ^ Tamil News (2 March 2007) "Nagma recommended for Andhra Pradesh Rajya Sabha seat" at [9]
  7. ^ See, e.g., Sanjoy Majumder "High noon for India's politicians" (19 April 2004), BBC News website at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3638375.stm [10]
  8. ^ "Film actress Nagma joins Congress" (Indo-Asian News Service (16 April 2004), online at http://in.news.yahoo.com/040416/43/2cla9.html [11]
  9. ^ "Film actress Nagma joins Congress" (Indo-Asian News Service (16 April 2004), online at http://in.news.yahoo.com/040416/43/2cla9.html [12]. The same claim was made earlier by the Times of India; see, e.g., "Nagma in poll fray?" Times News Network (21 March 2004) online at http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-572591,prtpage-1.cms[13]
  10. ^ See, e.g., "Government office for Nagma?" (10 Nov.2006) at [14]
  11. ^ A Ganesh Nadar interview with Nagma, "Nagma, the survivor - The actress who has truly done it all." (10 March 2006), at rediff.com [15]
  12. ^ "You need guts to deal with controversies: Nagma" in Hindustan Times (16 March 2007), at [16]
  13. ^ SmashHits interview, "Nagma Takes a Bow" (7 March 2007) at [17]
  14. ^ Baaghi is reported to have been Bollywood's seventh highest grossing film in 1990; see, e.g., http://www.boxofficeindia.com/1990.htm [18]
  15. ^ ZeeNews.com "Racism, controversies forced Nagma to quit Bollywood" (15 March 2007) [19]
  16. ^ See, e.g., "Nagma practices the art of living!" ApunKaChoice.com (19 April 2003) at [20]
  17. ^ "Kadhalan" listing on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), www.imdb.com at [21]
  18. ^ See, e.g., "Nagma back in controversy!" CineSouth (21 July 2006), online at [22]
  19. ^ Filmfare interview, May 2001 "Clean Bowled - Match-fixing... and mucho more with Nagma" at [23]
  20. ^ HindustanTimes.com's Beyond Marriage, "Nagma bowled over by Sourav..." at [24]
  21. ^ See, e.g., "Nagma practices the art of living!" ApunKaChoice.com (19 April 2003) at [25]; and "Venky and Nagma's Art of Living!" at [26]
  22. ^ See, e.g., "I have never met Dawood's brother: Nagma", ExpressIndia.com (15 Feb. 2005) at[27]
  23. ^ "Mumbai cops have more names besides Nagma" IANS (Feb.2005), online at Glamsham.com[28]
  24. ^ "Nagma linked to D-company" in The Telegraph (14 Feb. 2005), online at [29]
  25. ^ Sakshi Juneja, "Pati, Patni Aur Woh" (24 July 2006), DesiCritics.org at http://desicritics.org/2006/07/24/111324.php [30]
  26. ^ See, e.g., "'Marriage Is Such a Beautiful Institution,' says Nagma" (Faridoon Shahryar interview with Nagma) in Indiaglitz (20 September 2006) online at http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/interview/6667.html[31]
  27. ^ "Results", Bhojpuri Film Awards website, www.bhojpurifilmaward.com at[32]
  28. ^ ZeeNews.com "Racism, controversies forced Nagma to quit Bollywood" (15 March 2007) [33]; and IndiaInfo.com (IANS), "Racism, controversies forced Nagma to quit Bollywood" (16 March 2007) [34]
  29. ^ "Figure in focus... " Anuj Kumar , in The Hindu (5 April 2007), online at http://www.thehindu.com/mp/2007/04/05/stories/2007040501390400.htm [35]
  30. ^ "Nagma's sister getting married" in Mid-Day (1 Sept. 2006), online at [36]
  31. ^ SmasHits interview, "Nagma Takes a Bow" (7 March 2007) at [37]
  32. ^ "You need guts to deal with controversies: Nagma" in Hindustan Times (16 March 2007), at [38]
  33. ^ "Nagma’s family secret" in The Telegraph (22 April 2006) at [39]
  34. ^ See "Revealed: Nagma's real Dad" in Mumbai Mirror (22 April 2006), online at http://www.icravebollywood.com/news/22april06/nagma.php[40] and http://movies.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1498649,curpg-5.cms [41]
  35. ^ Obituary available online at http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/5065/nagmadad8jb.jpg [42]
  36. ^ The Telegraph, at [43]
  37. ^ Mumbai Mirror, at [44]
  38. ^ "Akshay inaugurates Nagma's boutique" (7 Sept. 2003) at [45] and "Nagma into fashion business" at [46]
  39. ^ "Nagma's sister getting married" in Mid-Day (1 Sept. 2006), online at [47]
  40. ^ Taran Adarsh, "Trade Production News - Under Production Films" (11 May 2007), IndiaFM.com at http://www.indiafm.com/trade/production_news/20070511.html [48]
  41. ^ The official movie website is http://www.ekjindekjaan.com/ [49]
  42. ^ Subhash K. Jha, "Direction is an enjoyable job: Saroj Khan" IANS (Oct.2006), online at [50]
  43. ^ See, e.g., "First-ever Bhojpuri awards " in Mid-Day (1 Feb.2006), online at [51]
  44. ^ See, e.g., YouTube.com at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16o61N1TXAo[52]
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