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A Beautiful But Unlucky Actress | Vijay Pandey Exclusive Bollywood Stories
Vimi became a household name in the late 60s after debuting in the Raj Kumar and Sunil Dutt starrer, Humraaz. Made under B. R Chopra’s banner, it also featured the stunning Mumtaz. With an assortment of stars, made by the Chopras, the film released to rave reviews, earned massively at the box office and landed the debutant Vimi among the stars.
Vimi’s accidental entry into showbiz was surprising, unconventional, and also unfortunate, for this one move proved to be the beginning of her tragic end. Hailing from a non-filmy background, Vimmi had graduated from Sophia College, Mumbai, with a degree in psychology.

She was a trained singer who would frequently participate in All India Radio Bombay's programs. Introduced to B R Chopra by music director Ravi, she bagged the role in Humraaz effortlessly. Speaking highly of her in a 1967 interview, BR Chopra praised his new find as, "intelligent, educated and grasps things quickly.” This leaves us wondering why the filmmaker never cast her again, despite the blockbuster status of their first and only film together.In the less than 10 films she did, Vimi manifested herself as a leading lady with charm and artistic skills. While Patanga released in 1971 barely did moderate business, her 1974 release with Shashi Kapoor again, Vachan, failed to ring any bells.Though movie offers were drying up, Vimi would keep herself relevant through her style sense which was on par with stars of old Hollywood. She was dressed to the nines, on and off screen, and captured a sizeable portion of her audience’s memories by posing in glamorous avatars for filmy glossies. A rarity of the age, she had even dared the bikini for a photoshoot, a bold move that set tongues wagging.
Her personal life was stuck in a whirlwind too. Unlike most actresses of Bollywood, Vimi entered the industry when she was already married and a mother of two. The pretty girl from a Punjabi Sikh family had strained ties with her parents after falling in love with a Calcutta-based Marwari businessman, Shiv Agarwal. She never got their blessings when she tied the knot with him against her parents consent.
Her in-laws were the only family she had left, but she ended up spoiling these remaining relations with her decision to enter showbiz. Her husband, she claimed, supported her and was producing movies for her, but the films she listed never saw the light of day. Was she lying or was she hallucinating: guess we'll never know. What we got to know long after she was gone, is, the couple had separated long back.

Within 7 years into the industry, Vimi found herself jobless, and was living with a small-time film broker who had been exploiting her in all ways imaginable. As the riches depleted, the once proud owner of designer dresses and sports cars, stood penniless, forced into prostitution.
To seek respite, she took to alcohol; the cheap and toxic kind