Remembering yesteryear Hindi film actress Purnima on her 5th death anniversary.

Born Meherbhano Mohammad Ali on 2 March 1934, Purnima Das Verma was a popular heroine in Hindi films from the late 40s to 50s. She appeared in many films including Patanga (1949), Jogan (1950), Sagai (1951), Jaal(1952), and Aurat (1953). She acted in more than 80 odd films, including a role in Ajay Devgan starrer Phool Aur Kaante, and Naam, where she played the grandmother of Sanjay Dutt and Kumar Gaurav.

Among her films, ‘Patanga’ proved to be very successful. Composed by C.Ramchandra, two songs of this musical hit film — ‘Dil se bhula do tum hUmein’ and ‘ O jaane waale tune armanon ki dunyia loot lI’ — were filmed on Purnima.

In 1954, she married filmmaker Bhagwan Das Verma, her second marriage. Bhagwan Dass Varma was a famous Producer-Director of his time who had many successful films like ‘Patanga’, ‘Sagai’, ‘Badal’, ‘Aurat’, ‘Parvat’ and ‘Pooja’ under his banner of ‘Varma Films’. Her first husband, a journalist, had already moved to Pakistan during the Partition. Bollywood’s successful actor Emraan Hashmi is her grandson. Her son from her first marriage, Anwar Hashmi, is Emraan’s father.

Purnima suffered from Alzheimer’s during the last few years of her life and she passed away on 14 August 2013.