Meet actress who was madly in love with Dev Anand, rejected blockbuster, quit acting, she is now...

Zaheeda Hussain, commonly known by her mononym Zaheeda, is a former actress in Hindi films who has not done much work in Bollywood. This actress, who is 79, has been away from the screen for a long time. Zaheeda's name is also included in the list of those actresses, who after giving one hit film in her life, remained an unknown actress of Bollywood. Did you know that Zaheeda Hussain is Sanjay Dutt's sister and was once crazy about Dev Anand?

In the Hindi film industry, many beauties have shown their magic on screen. Some were such hits that people remember them even after years and some earned a lot of fame for a period and then suddenly went away from the industry and became anonymous. When we talk about the 60s and the 70s, the name of the beautiful actress Zaheeda Hussain definitely comes to the mind of cinema lovers. Even today, Zaheeda's fans remember her by her popular song 'Churi Nahin Ye Mera Dil Hai...'.

Zaheeda was the daughter of Akhtar Hussain, who was blockbuster actress Nargis's brother. Nargis's mother Jaddanbai was married thrice. Jaddanbai's first marriage was to Narottam Das Khatri, who converted to Islam and changed his name to Bachhubhai. After this, Jaddanbai's second marriage took place with Irshad Meer Khan. With Nargis, he had a son named Akhtar Hussain and a daughter named Zahida. After this Jaddanbai married Mohanchand Uttamchand Tyagi. After marriage, he also accepted Islam and adopted the name Abdul Rashid. Nargis is the daughter of Mohanchand Uttamchand Tyagi aka Abdul Rashid and Jaddanbai. So, both Sanjay Dutt (Nargis's son) and Zaheeda (Akhtar Hussain's daughter) are brother and sister. 

Zaheeda did not do many films, but despite that, she made her special identity in cinema. Dev Anand gave Zahida her first chance in Bollywood. Zaheeda Hussain's first lead film was 'Anokhi Raat' in 1968. After this, Zaheeda did 'Prem Pujari' released in the year 1970 in which she was also seen with Dev Anand. 

Zaheeda, who belonged to a film family since childhood, used to dream of becoming a great actress like her aunt Nargis and grandmother Jaddanbai. Her dream of becoming an actress was fulfilled in the year 1971 when director Amarjeet cast her as the lead actress in his film ‘Gambler’.

Zaheeda soon fell in love with Dev Anand and after 2 successful films, she got a chance to work with him again in the blockbuster film 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna', but she stubbornly rejected the film. Actually, in this film, she was given the role of Dev Anand's sister and she wanted to become his girlfriend in the film. She did not get the role as per her wish and hence flatly refused to do the film. Later this role was played by Zeenat Aman and she captured the hearts and minds of the audience.

When Zaheeda was not able to do any work in her career, she married businessman Kesri Nandan Sahay. Zaheeda Hussain had two sons - Nilesh Sahay and Brajesh. Nilesh made his debut with Ganesh Acharya's film 'Angel' released in 2011. After marriage, Zahida Hussain said goodbye to films became a housewife, and became anonymous.