Govinda has added a painful chapter to the public memory of his mother, the actor and Hindustani classical vocalist Nirmala Devi. In a recent interview with ABP Live, he described how a working actress’s short run in 1940s Hindi cinema gave way to poverty, unwanted attention and a deliberate withdrawal from the screen. The recollection does more than revisit family biography; it recovers a different kind of heroine story from the early 1940s.
A short but noticed screen run
Nirmala Devi entered films in the early 1940s and remained a leading lady for less than a decade.
- Savera (1942): her debut, co-starring Arun Kumar Ahuja, whom she married the same year.
- Chalis Karod (1946): a performance that drew positive reviews.
- Sehra (1948): a home production mounted by her husband.
- Jai Mahalakshmi (1951): her final screen appearance.
The other titles, including Sharda (1942), Kanoon (1943), Geet (1944), Gaali (1944), Piya Milan (1945), Ghunghat (1946) and Anmol Ratan (1950), fill out a compact filmography. She left acting early, but not performance: she built a reputation as a classical vocalist, known especially for thumri.
The arc is a reminder that a visible 1942 debut did not guarantee financial security. In Govinda’s version, the gap between the screen image and the household’s real condition was severe enough to strip the family home.
Why she shaved her head
Govinda’s account is blunt about the cost of that heroine phase. He said the family’s finances collapsed so far that belongings were taken from their bungalow. His father, he recalled, told Nirmala Devi that her looks would invite ogling if she went out seeking work. Her response, in Govinda’s telling, was drastic: she had her head shaved and became a sadhvi, saying ‘Let my children grow up’.
That sacrifice now informs how Govinda receives public criticism. ‘Being the son of such a mother, I don’t care about who’s saying what about me,’ he said.
A mother’s caution and a son’s return
Nirmala Devi did not want her son to be a hero, Govinda said. She felt he was too innocent for the industry and hoped he would take a bank job; she also did not want him to smoke or drink. His father took the opposite view and believed in his potential.
The memory arrives as Govinda prepares his own return. After nearly seven years away, he is coming back with Roopa and Duniyadari, both announced in July 2026. In Roopa, he stars opposite newcomer Rani Swarnkar and is producing the project, which he has described as a suspense drama with comedy aimed at younger audiences.
This is not only a family anecdote. It is a small piece of cinema history told through memory: a woman who entered as a leading lady in 1942 left the screen in 1951, kept her music, and made a decision her son now reads as sacrifice. For readers who follow Hindi cinema’s long record, such details help explain how stardom was made and unmade around women of that era, and why some of those women chose a life outside the frame.
Source: Hindustan Times
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