A Naushad favourite, she debuted as a child star with Taj Mahal (1941), and subsequently went on to play many memorable roles in her long if controversy-marked career.

Among her best known films are Humari Baat (1943), Phool (1944), Dard (1947) and Anmol Ghadi (1947) which had timeless compositions like Jawaan Hai Mohabbat, Aawaaz De Kahaan Hai, Aa Jaa Meri Barbad Mohabbat ke Sahare and Mere Bachpan ke Saathi.

She reached the pinnacle of her career in the early 1950s, when she commanded audience interest as few others in Indian cinema ever have.

A painful dalliance with younger colleague, Dev Anand, left her bruised emotionally, a phase from which many said she never recovered. A retreat from the public atmosphere was followed by a return in films like Mirza Ghalib (1954) but she never attained the popularity she had attained earlier on.

Though she continued acting, most of her roles were pedestrian and did not attract much viewer attention. She lived the life of a recluse in Mumbai, until her demise this morning, after a brief illness.