Born on December 5 1932 as Florence Ezekiel in Baghdad Iraq Nadira was one of top stars of Bollywood in the 1950 and 1960s. She was one of the first celebrities in India to buy a luxurious Rolls Royce car in 60s. She began her acting career in films as a child artist with the 1943 film Mauj at the age of 11. But her breakthrough came as a grown up with Mehboob Khan’s 1952 film Aan. Her first film reportedly paid her Rs 1200 which was considered very small amount at that time. In 60s Nadira became one of the highest-paid actress after delivering hits like like Shree 420 Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi Chhoti Chhoti Baatein Ek Nanhi Munni Ladki Thi Safar Bombay Talkie Pakeezah Anokha Daan Hanste Zakhm Amar Akbar Anthony Dahshat Saagar Tamanna and many more. In the following years Nadira became one of the biggest stars in Bollywood. However one film decision ruined her career and she ended up being typecasted in Bollywood. Once in an interview Nadira revealed that she wanted to work with Raj Kapoor so badly like any other young actress of that era. She then starred in Shree 420 alongside Raj Kapoor in a negative role. The film was a superhit and people widely appreciated her performance. However following that the producers instantly typecasted her in negative roles which affected her career deeply. Reportedly Nadira had to reject over 200 films to break her stereotypical image in Bollywood. Unfortunately the actress had no choice but to say yes to negative roles. In an interview the actress admitted that she never wanted to play such characters and also shared that if anyone had given her sensible advice she would rejected those vamp roles. I did not want that. But now I feel that if I had been selective or if I had received some good advice I would not have rejected so many of those roles. Nadira told in an interview. Despite being one of the greatest stars in the history of Hindi cinema Nadira always lived a very low-key life. She never got married and had hardly any news about her linkups in the gossip columns. She rarely attended any Bollywood parties or public events in the latter stages of her life. Unfortunately on February 9 2006 Nadira passed away at the age of 73 due to prolonged illness.