She was introduced by her mother Shobhana Samarth in a film called 'Hamari Beti'. This was the beginning of a new era for the Indian cinema because Nutan turned out to be the most sought after actresses in the years to come. She was as convincing and comfortable in glamourous roles and in meaningful roles.
Some of Nutan's films where she projected the image of a very intense actress are 'Seema', 'Sujata', 'Bandini', 'Milan' and 'Saraswatichandra'. Most of these were done with Sunil Dutt, Ashok Kumar and other great actors of that time. Nutan's glamourous image came out very well in films like 'Delhi Ka Thug', 'Baarish', 'Paying Guest', 'Anari', 'Chhaliya' and 'Tere Ghar Ke Saamne'. Her co-stars were Kishore Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor. Her beauty had a different kind of appeal and the audiences loved her in every image she came in. Then she also tried her hands in some character roles like in 'Saudagar', 'Mein Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki', 'Naam' and 'Karma'. She worked with the likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar in these films. But before she could do anymore of such meaningful roles, she died of breast cancer in 1991.
Mohnish Behl, her only son, does quite well for himself as a villain and sister Tanuja was already an established actress of her time.
