Nirmala Devi

Nirmala Devi Biography

Nirmala Devi was a classical vocalist and film actress in the 1940s. She belonged to Patiala Gharana of Hindustani music. The successful entertainer of Bollywood Govinda is her son. She was married to actor of 1940s, Arun Kumar Ahuja of Aurat fame. Though she has appeared in a few early talkies of Indian cinema and has also done playback singing, she gained success as a leading vocalist of Patiala Gharana of Hindustani music. She has released several discs under the label of HMV. She has rendered her voice for film songs, "Kahhey Kanha Karat Barjori" of Bawarchi (1972) and Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985), apart from early Bollywood songs. She was also known as Nirmala Arun. She acted in 13 Hindi movies and sang about 60 film songs.

Nirmala Devi was born on 7 June 1927 in Varanasi UP into a rich business family. Her father, Vasdev Prashad Singh was a jeweler by profession. Her mother was a house wife. Nirmala Devi was the eldest of 12 siblings. She recorded her first album song in Mumbai at the age of 15. Later she continued with concerts, though was associated with films also. She was also an artist associated with AIR and Doordarshan. She got married to film actor Arun Kumar Ahuja in 1942 and her entry to films as a singing actress happened after her marriage. Arun was associated with films then. The couple had six children of whom two got associated with Bollywood. Their son Govinda is one of the leading actors of Bollywood since 1980s, known for commercial hits and comedy entertainers in association with David Dhawan, while another son, Kirti Kumar has directed a few movies, though was not successful.

She made her film debut in 1942, the same year she got married. The movie was ‘Savera’ where she played lead role opposite her husband.  She was credited as Nirmala Devi for movies. Sharda, Kanoon, Geet, Gaali, Sehra and Janamashtami were her released movies later. She worked with her husband for the movies – Savera, Chalis Karod, Sehra and Jai Mahalakshmi. Some of her released albums include - Ghazals by Nirmala Devi, Laakhon Ke Bol Sahe, Saavan Beetaa Jaye, Weekend Pleasure, Saavan Beetaa Jaye etc. She could expand her voice to all the three octaves of music very comfortably, which is quite a rare phenomenon among classical singers. She passed away in 1996 at the time when her son Govinda was at his career peak.

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Updated: March 20, 2016