Nagma

Not to be confused with Nagma (Bangladeshi actress).

Nagma Arvind Morarji^[1] (born Nandita Arvind Morarji; 25 December 1974), known mononyomusly as Nagma. is an Indian politician and former actress. She gained prominence as a leading actress in the 1990s and appeared in films across various Indian languages, primarily in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and Bhojpuri.

For other uses, see Nagma (disambiguation).

Nagma
Nagma in September 2015
Born	Nandita Arvind Morarjii (1974-12-25) 25 December 1974 (age 49) Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra, India
Other names	Nagma Sadanah
Alma mater	Mumbai University (B. Com)
Occupations	Actor politician
Years active	1990–2008 (actress) 2004–present (politician)
Political party	Indian National Congress
Relatives	Roshini (half-sister) Jyothika (half-sister) Suriya (brother-in-law)

Nagma made her film debut in Baaghi (1990) opposite Salman Khan, which was the seventh highest-grossing Hindi film of the year.^[2] She went on to star in several notable films, including Gharana Mogudu (1992), King Uncle (1993), Varasudu (1993), Suhaag (1994), Kadhalan (1994), Baashha (1995), and Lal Baadshah (1999).

Personal life

Nagma was born as Nandita Arvind Morarji^[3] on 25 December 1974.^[1][4] Her father Arvind Morarji, whose forefathers hailed from Jaisalmer, later migrating to Porbandar, Gujarat and finally Mumbai.^[3] Her grandfather Gokuldas Morarji was a reputed businessman in the shipping, textile, agricultural and pharmaceutical industries.^[3] Her mother Seema, originally named Shama Kazi, is a Muslim belonging to the Kazi freedom fighter family.^[3] She married Morarji in 1969 at the CCI Club in Mumbai, but separated from him in 1974.^[3] After divorcing Morarji in August 1974, Nagma's mother married Chander Sadanah, a film producer in March 1975 with whom she had three children: including two daughters, actresses Jyothika and Roshini (born Radhika).^[5]

Nagma did her schooling from Mount Mary Convent High School, Mumbai.^[6] She is a Bachelor of Commerce graduate from National College, Mumbai University.^[1]

Nagma remained close to her biological father until his death on 31 December 2005. She explained to a Mumbai reporter "I am proud of the fact that I belong to a respectable family. My mother was legally married to my father, the late Shri Arvind Morarji, at a public function at the CCI Club, Mumbai." It was Nagma's mother who encouraged her to become an actress and is said to have been her "constant companion on the film sets" for several years.^[7]

Nagma is a practicing Christian. She was baptised to be a Christian in 2007.^{[8][better source needed]}

Acting career

Nagma at RK Excellence Awards

Nagma's debut film Baghi: A Rebel for Love, opposite Salman Khan was Hindi cinema's seventh highest-grossing film in 1990.^[2] With Karisma Kapoor, she was also one of the female leads in 1994's Suhaag with Ajay Devgan and Akshay Kumar. Following these films, she acted in Telugu and Tamil films at the behest of her friend Divya Bharti. Explaining her shift, she cited what she was more conscious of the quality of work, in terms of meaty roles and her flair to travel throughout India understanding different cultures and her drive and passion to get acclamation from all over India. She stated "Language was never a barrier. I love adventure, culture and have great respect for the Indian tradition".

Her Telugu films include Gharana Mogudu with Chiranjeevi, Allari Alludu with Nagarjuna Akkineni and Major Chandrakanth with N. T. Rama Rao and Mohan Babu. Her Tamil films include Kadhalan with Prabhu Deva, Baashha with Rajinikanth and Villadhi Villain with Sathyaraj in which she played her most glamour part and begin to tempt the Tamil audience and her performance gained her a unanimous praises for her glamour role time.^[9]

After moving back to Mumbai, she focused on supporting roles in Hindi films like the 2000s Chal Mere Bhai, which reunited her with former co-stars Karisma Kapoor, Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt. While based in Mumbai, she continued to work in some Telugu and Tamil films, such as Allari Ramudu^[10] and Citizen,^[11][12][13] as well as taking leading roles in some Malayalam films including Chathurangam.^[14][15][16]

Nagma has acted in Bhojpuri films, including films with the Big Boss participant Ravi Kishan. She won a Best Actress award at the 2005 Bhojpuri Film Awards for her performance in Dulha Milal Dildar.^[17] In 2006's Ganga, she starred in the title role opposite Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini. When asked why she shifted to Bhojpuri films, she said "I wanted to do films in different languages. I have already done films 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."^[18] When interviewed by The Hindu in Delhi in April 2007, she indicated that another important reason for her decision to focus on Bhojpuri films was to help with her political campaigning.^[19]

In 2006, she made her Punjabi film debut, starring alongside Raj Babbar in Ek Jind Ek Jaan.^[20]

Discussing her career in a Mid-Day interview in September 2006, Nagma said "I have learned 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."^{[citation needed]} While noting her commitment to complete several Bhojpuri films she was involved with, in March 2007, she expressed her intention to next focus on returning to Hindi films after wrapping up her projects. 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."^[21]

Politics

Nagma at RK Excellence Awards

It was reported that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), wanted to field Nagma as a candidate from Hyderabad for the 2004 General Lok Sabha Elections.^[22][23] But she decided to join Congress in 2004 and campaigned in Andhra Pradesh. She cited Congress Party's "commitment towards secularism and welfare of the poor and weaker sections" as her reason for joining.^[22] Later, after joining the Congress, Nagma has reportedly said that she first supported the Congress Party because of her admiration for Rajiv Gandhi.^[24]

She contested 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Meerut as Congress candidate, securing fourth position with 42,911 votes.^[25] She lost her deposit.^[26]

In a 2006 interview, 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. She said "I personally experienced the Love of Jesus Christ from early on and His uniqueness and identifies herself as a Christian.^[27] Communal riots pained me. I wanted to do something. So I joined politics." She had to turn down an offer to run for India's Lok Sabha in 2003 due to her many film commitments. "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."^[28] In an interview with the Hindustan Times in 2007, she said "politics will continue".^[21]

Nagma was appointed the general secretary of All India Mahila Congress in 2015.^[29]

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Language	Notes
1990	Baaghi: A Rebel for Love	Kaajal aka Paro	Hindi	Debut film
1991	Peddinti Alludu	Geeta	Telugu	Debut in Telugu
	Killer	Priya
1992	Gharana Mogudu	Uma Devi		Nominated-Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu
	Bewaffa Se Waffa	Nagma	Hindi
	Dilwale Kabhi Na Hare	Anjali Oberoi
	Police Aur Mujrim	Meena Khanna
	Yalgaar	Anu Singhal
	Aswamedham	Sowjanya	Telugu
1993	King Uncle	Kavita	Hindi
	Major Chandrakanth	Seetha	Telugu
	Varasudu	Keerthi
	Hasti	Neena Narang	Hindi
	Kondapalli Raja	Subbalakshmi	Telugu
	Dhartiputra	Lisa	Hindi
	Allari Alludu	Sravani	Telugu
	Rendilla Poojari
	Green Snake	Najma	Cantonese Mandarin Chinese
1994	Mugguru Monagallu	Rani	Telugu
	Super Police	Roja
	Gang Master	Sandhya
	Aavesam
	Kadhalan	Sruthi	Tamil	Nominated — Filmfare Award for Best Actress — Tamil
	Suhaag	Madhu	Hindi
1995	Baashha	Priya	Tamil
	Mounam	Manjari	Telugu
	Ragasiya Police	Raji	Tamil
	Villadhi Villain	Janaki
	Anna		Malayalam	Unreleased
	Rikshavodu	Rani	Telugu
	Adavi Dora	Priya
	Bharatha Simham
1996	Love Birds	Mridula	Tamil
	Saradha Bullodu	Nirmala Devi	Telugu
	Mettukudi	Indhu	Tamil
1997	Kaun Rokega Mujhe	Nisha	Hindi
	Periya Thambi	Selvi	Tamil
	Aravindhan	Anu
	Surya Putrulu		Telugu
	Janakiraman	Indhu	Tamil
	Pistha	Venilla
1998	Sreekrishnapurathe Nakshathrathilakkam	Yamuna Rani	Malayalam
	Kurubana Rani	Rani	Kannada
	Vaettiya Madichu Kattu	Mrs.Pooja Jaiprakash	Tamil
1999	Lal Baadshah		Hindi	Special appearance
	Ravimama		Kannada
2000	Kunwara	Sharmila Singh	Hindi
	Chal Mere Bhai	Sonia		Guest appearance
	Papa The Great	Mrs. Pooja Jai Prakash
2001	Dheena		Tamil	Special appearance in the song "Vathikuchi Pathikadhuda"
	Sai Teri Maya		Hindi
	Ek Rishtaa: The Bond of Love			Special appearance
	Citizen	CBI Sarojini Harichandran	Tamil
	Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar	Anupama Verma	Hindi	Special appearance
2002	Chathurangam	Nayana Pillai	Malayalam
	Allari Ramudu	Chamundeswari	Telugu
	Ninu Choodaka Nenundalenu			Special appearance
2003	Hrudayavantha		Kannada
2004	Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo	Aarti V. Singh	Hindi
2005	Dulha Milal Dildar		Bhojpuri	Won - Bhojpuri Film Award for Best Actress[30]
	Panditji Batai Na Byah Kab Hoi
	Parinam	Nisha	Bengali
2006	Ek Jind Ek Jaan	Nimmi	Punjabi
	Ganga	Ganga	Bhojpuri	Won - Bhojpuri Film Award for Best Actress
	Ab Ta Banja Sajnwa Hamaar
	Mai Baap
	Dil Diwana Tohar Ho Gayil
	Raja Thakur
2007	Back To Honeymoon		Hindi
	Thamb Lakshmi Thamb	Lakshmi	Marathi
	Tu Hamaar Hou		Bhojpuri
	Janam Janam Ke Saath
2008	Hanuman Bhakt Hawaldaar
	Thela No 501

Awards and nominations

She is a recipient of Bhojpuri Film Awards two times. She won Best Actress at the first Bhojpuri Film Awards for her performance in Dulha Milal Dildar.^[31] Later in 2007, she was honoured again for the same for the 2006 film Ganga, in which she played the titular role.

She was nominated at Filmfare Awards South for her work in Telugu and Tamil film industry. She was seen as the female lead in Gharana Mogudu, Telugu-language film directed by K. Raghavendra Rao,^[32] opposite Chiranjeevi, for which she was nominated her first Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu. She lost the award to Revathy for Ankuram . Second time, she was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil at 42nd Filmfare Awards South, for her role in Kadhalan, but lost to Revathi again for Priyanka (1994 film), but the team won Best Director – Tamil for S. Shankar^[33] & Music Director – Tamil for A. R. Rahman.

In 2013, the Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF) decided to honour Nagma with a lifetime achievement award, but issued the award to Sharmila Tagore instead. Nagma, who was 39 years old at the time, said, "I thought I was too young for the award, but they convinced me. They said I had been selected because of my contribution to Indian cinema". JIFF's director, Hanuman Chaudhary, said that the change was due to Nagma not responding to their invitation, but Nagma recounted to Times of India that she accepted their invitation officially.^[34]

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
1992	Filmfare Awards South	Best Actress – Telugu	Gharana Mogudu	Nominated
1994		Best Actress – Tamil	Kadhalan	Nominated
2006	Bhojpuri Film Awards	Best Actress	Dulha Milal Dildar	Won[35]
2007			Ganga	Won[36]

See also

• List of Bhojpuri cinema actresses

References

1. "Morarji Nagma Arvind(Indian National Congress(INC)):Constituency- MEERUT(UTTAR PRADESH) - Affidavit Information of Candidate". myneta.info. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
2. Baaghi: A Rebel for Love Archived 7 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine
3. "Sensuous pictures of Nagma, ex-gf of Sourav Ganguly - OrissaPOST". Odisha News, Odisha Latest news, Odisha Daily - OrissaPOST. 15 March 2019. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
4. "पहली फिल्म से ही फेमस हुईं नगमा, अब दिखती हैं ऐसी, फिल्मी दुनिया छोड़ कर रहीं राजनीति". Amar Ujala (in Hindi). 25 December 2019. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
5. "Nagma's family secret". The Telegraph (India). 21 April 2006. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
6. @nagma_morarji (23 November 2019). "In my school today Mount Mary Convent a stones throw away from my home Nostalgia of my school days with my school friend just like old times down memory lane !! I played as the State level volleyball player then. For Maharashtra !!! Was selected to go to play in Asiad games !!" (Tweet). Retrieved 10 November 2020 – via Twitter.
7. "For Indophiles and Those Who Crave Bollywood". I Crave Bollywood. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
8. "Nagma: Testimony of Bollywood Actress". Jeevanmarg. 20 August 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
9. "Tamil Movie News – 1995 review". Society of Tamil Culture. January 1996. Archived from the original on 14 March 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
10. "Telugu Cinema - Review - Allari Ramudu - NTR, Nagma, Ari Agrawal, Urvasi - RP Patnaik - B Gopal - Chanti". Archived from the original on 30 November 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
11. "Nagma is back". Tamilmovies. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
12. "Tamil Movies Online News". tamilmovies.com. Archived from the original on 25 January 2001. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
13. "ajithkumar.fr.fm". ajithkumar.fr.fm. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
14. N. J., Nair (19 August 2002). "In a different mould". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 November 2018.^{[dead link]}
15. "Goodlass Nerolac piggybacks on Mohanlal starrer". Business Line. 9 December 2002. Archived from the original on 1 February 2005. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
16. "Chathurangam (2002)". Sify. 4 December 2002. Archived from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
17. ""Results", Bhojpuri Film Awards website". bhojpurifilmaward.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 2007.
18. ZeeNews.com "Racism, controversies forced Nagma to quit Hindi Cinema" (15 March 2007) Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
19. ""Figure in focus..." Anuj Kumar, in The Hindu (5 April 2007)". The Hindu. 5 April 2007. Archived from the original on 25 September 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
20. "Ek Jind Ek Jaan Movie: Showtimes, Review, Trailer, Posters, News & Videos | eTimes". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
21. "You need guts to deal with controversies: Nagma," Hindustan Times (16 March 2007) Archived 20 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
22. ""Film actress Nagma joins Congress" Indo-Asian News Service (16 April 2004)". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 6 May 2006.
23. ""Nagma in poll fray?" Times News Network (21 March 2004)". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 22 December 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2007.
24. "See, e.g., "Government office for Nagma?" (10 Nov. 2006) at". Archived from the original on 28 May 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
25. Lal, Rashi (16 May 2014). "Nagma: Election Results 2014: Nagma's star attraction fails to click in Meerut - Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
26. Shashidhar, Karthik (19 May 2014). "Lok Sabha elections: Why many candidates lost their deposits". Livemint. Archived from the original on 14 November 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
27. Ashcraft, Michael (15 June 2018). "Bollywood actress Nagma discovered the uniqueness of Jesus | God Reports". Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
28. A Ganesh Nadar interview with Nagma, "Nagma, the survivor — The actress who has truly done it all." (10 March 2006), at rediff.com Archived 3 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine
29. "Nagma made General Secretary of All India Mahila Congress". The Economic Times. 6 October 2015. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
30. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
31. fwire (18 September 2013). "8th Bhojpuri Film Awards in Lucknow". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 11 December 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
32. "Top ten Kannada films to have been remade". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
33. "The 42nd Annual (South) Filmfare Winners". Filmfare. 1995. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
34. Banerjee, Soumyadipta (29 January 2013). "Nagma loses award of a lifetime to Sharmila Tagore - Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
35. "1st Bhojpuri Film Awards". Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
36. "2nd Bhojpuri Film Awards". Archived from the original on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2020.

External links

• Nagma at IMDb