A commemorative postage stamp on Nargis, an Indian film actress :

Issued by India

Issued on Dec 30, 1993

Issued for : From time to time, the Department of Posts brings out special postage stamps to commemorate events and to honour eminent personalities.

Design : The stamp design features a charming profile of Nargis Dutt together with a symbol of the Spastic Society of India. The FDC design shows her receiving an award from President Zakir Hussain and the Cancellation design depicts the classic still from the film ‘Mother India‘.

Credits : The stamp, FDC & cancellation have been prepared based on the materials supplied by Shri Sunil Dutt, M.P.

Type : Stamp, Mint Condition

Colour : Single Colour

Denomination : 100 Paise

Overall size : 4.06 x 2.73 cms.

Printing size : 3.71 x 2.38 cms.

Perforation : 13 x 13

Paper : Indigenous Un W/M Adhesive Coated Stamp Paper

Number of stamps Printed : 0.6 Million

Number per issue sheet : 35

Printing Process : Photogravure

Printer : India Security Press

Name : Fatima Rashid

Born on Jun 1, 1929 at Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India

Died on May 3, 1981 at Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

About : 

• Nargis Dutt, was a legendary figure even in her lifetime as a film artiste, and social worker. She had acted in more than 50 films and almost all her films received both critical and popular acclaim. She entered the film world as a child artiste and progressed towards a variety of roles, the most memorable being her role in ‘Mother India‘.
• To Nargis Dutt goes the credit of many firsts — She was the first Indian artiste to receive the International award for the best actress at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Czechoslovakia in 1958. She was also the first actress to receive the Urvashi Award, India‘s highest acting honour, in 1968. She was the first actress to be the President of the Indian Motion Picture Producer’s Association (IMPPA). She was also the first actress to be decorated with the title Padma Shri in 1958. Added to all these, Mrs. Nargis Dutt was the first film actress to be nominated by the President of India to the Rajya Sabha in 1980.
• After ‘RAAT AUR DIN‘ and the national Urvashi Award, Nargis Dutt‘s illustrious career moved on to the world of social welfare. Nargis Dutt, along with Smt. Mithu Alur, started the First Society and School of Spastics in 1972 with only three children. The Spastic Society has branches now in Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore, Calcutta and Madras for education and rehabilitation of spastic children and adults. Today, the Society she started is taking care of ten thousand families all over India. Nargis Dutt was also vice-president of the Ajanta Arts Troupe, and she accompanied this troupe to entertain the wounded officers and jawans, during the border conflicts in 1965 and 1971, in far-off places such as Ladakh, NEFA, and to the other areas of the western & eastern sectors.
• In recognition of her service in the field of social welfare including the welfare of the physically handicapped and backward classes, the Government of Maharashtra honoured her posthumously as ‘DALIT MITRA‘ in 1983. The Government of India also instituted the Nargis Dutt award to be given to the best film on national integration. A ‘Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Hospital‘ has come up in the Barsi district of rural Maharashtra and a ‘Nargis Dutt Memorial Foundation‘ for raising funds for cancer treatment was started in 1982. This Organisation has branches in various parts of America, U.K., Germany and Hongkong and has sent more than 1 million dollar worth of equipment to hospitals in India.
  
• The ‘Lady in White‘ as she was known popularly, is no longer with us but her spirit lives on, in her remarkable films, in the Spastic Society of India and in mankind’s fight against cancer. Nargis Dutt has carved for herself a prominent niche amongst the eminent Indian women of our time.

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