Nimmi was one of the most elegant and stylish of Hindi cinema’s Golden Era during the 1950s. She was among the top stars of her time. She was initially stereotyped in village girl roles but soon started appearing in contemporary roles and is considered as of the initial female stars of Bollywood. Her underlying eroticism and expressive eyes made her an audience’s best-loved. Apart from Aan, Aandhiyan, Saza, Deedar, Barsaat, Kundan, Daag, Amar, Bhai-Bhai and Uran Khatola are among her famous works.

Her lead role in the film Aan is arguably the best and most iconic character she played in her illustrious career. Her role was brief and when financers came to know about it, they objected it and the filmmakers were forced to extend her role. Her on-screen death sequence became very popular with the viewers. Aan was also among the first Bollywood film to get a worldwide release and the film was premiered grandly in London. While in London, she met several western film personalities and when Errol Flynn tried to kiss her, she backed off and said ‘’I am an Indian Girl, you cannot do that!’’. This incident made the headlines in the UK then and she was given a befitting title, “The unkissed girl of India” by the UK media.

She had a dream run till the late 1950s but her career graph started declining after that. Her much-hyped project ‘Love & God’ got cancelled citing director Asif’s death. She rejected films like Who Kaun Thi?, and Sadhna. In the 1960s she faced strong competition from young actresses and eventually took retirement after the release of Akashdeep in 1965. Her shelved project, Love and God finally got released in 1986.

Nimmi was born to a military contractor Abdul Hakim & a famous actress, singer Wahidan Bai. She was married to screenwriter S. Ali Raza from 1965 to till his death in 2007. She adopted her sister's son who lives in London. A famous Indian playback singer Ghulam Mustafa Durrani (G. M. Durrani) was her uncle.

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