Chand Usmani

Biography Chandbibi Khanam Usmani was born on 3 January 1933 in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, into a Pashtun family. She ran a halfway house at her home in Mahim for runaway girls who had come to Mumbai seeking a career in films. She died in Mumbai on 26 November 1989.

Career Chand Usmani came to notice by participating in a talent contest called 'Kardar-Kolynos-Teresa Contest' in 1949, winning second place. In 1953, she debuted as the heroine in Jeewan Jyoti opposite Shammi Kapoor (his debut too). In Baap Re Baap, a key scene is noted for "the joy exhibited by Usmani on screen". The Film Heritage Foundation of India describes her as the "effervescent Chand Usmani, with her heart-warming smile". Writing nearly 40 years later, The Hindu's film reviewer considered that "Chand Usmani does justice to Champa's role displaying restraint, poise and grace in a role which provided ample opportunity to easily go over the top." Despite having a long career, she said in an interview with Tabassum that she regretted not having an agent/manager, which led to her not getting diverse roles and not having more success. In many of her roles, she played a self-sacrificing wife, mother, girlfriend or sister, as summed up by Mahasweta Devi in her 1986 short story 'The Wet-Nurse': "Jashoda was a true example of Indian womanhood. She was typical of a chaste and loving wife and devoted mother, ideals which defy intelligence and rational explanation, which involve sacrifice and dedication stretching the limits of imagination, and which have been kept alive in the popular Indian psyche through the ages, beginning with Sati-Savitri-Sita right down to Nirupa Roy and Chand Usmani in our times."

Partial filmography