Naseem Banu - Overview

Naseem Banu (4 July 1916 – 18 June 2002) was an Indian actress. She was referred to as Naseem and known as "Beauty Queen" and the "first female superstar" of Indian Cinema. Starting her acting career in the mid-1930s she continued to act till mid-1950s. Her first film was Khoon Ka Khoon (Hamlet) (1935) with Sohrab Modi under whose Minerva Movietone banner she acted for several years. Her high-point came with Modi's Pukar (1939) in which she played the role of Empress Nur Jahan. According to composer Naushad she got the sobriquet Pari-Chehra (fairy face) Naseem through the publicity advertisements of her films. She was the mother of actress Saira Banu and mother-in-law to the actor Dilip Kumar.