Kamini Kaushal

Kamini Kaushal
Kamini Kaushal at Jaipur, 2011
Born	Uma Kashyap (1927-02-24) 24 February 1927 (age 90) Lahore, Punjab, British India
Occupation	Actress, producer
Years active	1946 - present
Awards	Filmfare Best Actress Award for Biraj Bahu (1955)

Kamini Kaushal (born February 24, 1927) is a Hindi film and television actress, who is most noted for her roles in films like Neecha Nagar (1946) which won the 1946 Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at Cannes Film Festival and Biraj Bahu (1955) which won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award in 1955. She played lead heroine in films from 1946 to 1963 wherein her roles in Do Bhai, Shaheed(1948), Ziddi, Shabnam, Nadiya Ke Paar, Arzoo, Paras(1949), Namoona, Jhanjar, Aabru, Night Club, Jailor, Bade Sarkar and Godaan are considered her career's best performances. She played character roles since 1963 and was critically acclaimed for her performances in Shaheed (1965),in 3 films of Rajesh Khanna like Prem Nagar, Do Raaste, Mahachor and with Sanjeev Kumar - Anhonee (1973 film) and 8 films with Manoj Kumar.

Kamini Kaushal was born Uma Kashyap in Lahore on 24 February 1927. She was the youngest among two brothers and three sisters. Kamini Kaushal was the daughter of Prof Shiv Ram Kasyap Professor of Botany, Punjab University at Lahore, British India (now in Pakistan). Prof Kashyap is widely regarded as father of Indian Botany. Her father was a distinguished botanist who discovered six species of plants. She was only seven when her father died on 26 November 1934. She did her B.A. (honours) in English literature from Kinnaird College in Lahore. She got an offer to act in films through Chetan Anand in 1946 for the film Neecha Nagar.

She quoted in an interview, talking about her teenage days, "I had no time to fool. I didn’t have any crush, I was busy swimming, riding, skating and doing radio plays on Akashwani, for which I was paid Rupees 10." When her elder sister died in a car accident, leaving behind two daughters, Kaushal decided to marry her brother-in-law, B.S. Sood, in 1948 and she set up home in Bombay where her husband was a chief engineer in the Bombay Port Trust. Her elder sister's daughters are Kumkum Somani and Kavita Sahni. Kumkum Somani has written a book for children on Gandhi's philosophy and Kavita Sahni is an artist. Kamini had 3 sons after 1955, from her marriage with B.S.Sood - Rahul, Vidur and Shravan.