MUMBAI: Veteran Indian actress Nadira died

early on February 9 due to complications from a prolonged illness, her doctor said. She was 75.

The feisty Nadira, who took Indian cinema by storm with her debut film Aan, passed away in her south Mumbai flat where she had been living alone for many years.

The actress is best known for her roles in classics like “Shri 420”, “Dil Apna Preet Parayee” and later on in spirited mother roles in “Julie” and “Sagar”.

Nadira was best-known for playing negative characters in a series of films in the 1950s and 1960s, when most top actresses shied away from such roles.

She was admitted to Bhatia Hospital in Mumbai in December suffering from tubercular meningitis and was later discharged, said Dr Arpita Diwedi. Nadira was readmitted on January 24 after her health deteriorated again, he said.

Nadira acted in 63 movies since her debut in Aan in 1952, where she played a haughty princess untouched by the suffering of the people in her kingdom. Her best-known movies were Shri 420, Pakeezah and Julie. She acted in television serials in the late 1990s. Her last movie was Josh six years ago.