'Neecha Nagar' to 'Laal Singh Chaddha': Yesteryear star Kamini Kaushal dies at 98
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Mumbai (PTI): Actor Kamini Kaushal, one of Hindi cinema's earliest female stars who began her career with the classic "Neecha Nagar" in 1946 and went on to act in a host of films right till 2022, has died in her Mumbai home. She was 98.
Amongst the industry's highest paid actresses in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Kaushal starred opposite the triumvirate of Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor before moving on to character roles in the 1960s. Her last screen appearance was in Aamir Khan's 2022 film "Laal Singh Chaddha" at the age of 95, making for a remarkable 76 years in the movies.
"She died at her Mumbai home late on Thursday night. She would have turned 99 in February," Sajan Narain, a close friend of the family, told PTI.
Kaushal, who also crafted puppets and worked actively in storytelling for children, was born Uma Kashyap on February 24, 1927 in Lahore.
The youngest of two brothers and three sisters, Kaushal graduated with a degree in English literature from Government College in Lahore.
Her father, Shiv Ram Kashyap, was widely regarded as the father of Indian botany and taught as a professor at the University of Punjab in pre-partition Lahore.
Proficient in horse riding and swimming, Kaushal's movie career happened when family friend and filmmaker Chetan Anand approached her for his film "Neecha Nagar". The film, where she acted opposite actor Rafiq Anwar and Anand's wife Uma, won the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the inaugural Cannes Film Festival in 1946.
"Neecha Nagar" is considered a classic for its portrayal of the gulf between rich and poor. It also marked the debut of the late star Zohra Sehgal and music by renowned sitarist Ravi Shankar.
It was Chetan Anand who rechristened her Kamini Kaushal to avoid confusion between two Umas.
"My name also being Uma, he wanted a different name for me. I asked him to give me a name beginning with ‘K’ to match with the names of my daughters Kumkum and Kavita,” Kaushal told Filmfare in an interview in 2014.
After the success of "Neecha Nagar", Kaushal worked extensively with Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor in films such as "Jail Yatra", "Do Bhai", "Aag", "Shaheed", "Nadiya Ke Par", "Ziddi", "Shabnam" and "Arzoo".
“Each of my heroes were different from each other. Raj was very extrovert and always used to bluff a lot on the set. He was a fun-loving guy. Dev was sincere and passionate about his craft. Dilip, like me, was quiet and I was most comfortable to work with him. We did many films together," she told PTI in 2013.
She holds the distinction of being the first actor for whom Lata Mangeshkar lent her voice. The film was the 1948 "Ziddi", which featured tracks such as "Chanda Re Ja Re Ja, Piya Se Sandesa Mora Kahiyo Ja" and "Yeh Kaun Aaya Re, Karke Yeh Sola Singa". Kaushal played the lead role in filmmaker Bimal Roy's acclaimed 1954 movie "Biraj Bahu", adapted from renowned author Saratchandra Chattopadhyay’s Bengali novel. Her portrayal of devoted wife won a National Film Award and earned her a Filmfare award for best actress.
The actor took a break from movies but Manoj Kumar convinced her to come back. She transitioned to mother roles with Manoj Kumar's "Upkar" in 1967. Kaushal was just 40 at the time.
She went on to star in Kumar's other hit films such as "Purab Aur Paschim", "Sanyasi", "Shor", "Roti Kapda Aur Makaan", "Dus Numbari" and "Santosh", playing his mother in each of them.
Though selective in her film choices throughout her career, Kaushal worked right till the end. In the twilight of her life, she appeared in Shah Rukh Khan starrer "Chennai Express" and Shahid Kapoor's "Kabir Singh", which earned her a Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Filmfare nomination.
She was 95 when she made a cameo as an elderly woman travelling in a train in "Laal Singh Chaddha".
Besides movies, Kaushal also featured in several television shows, including "Chand Sitare" on Doordarshan and "Shanno Ki Shaadi" on StarPlus.
She appeared as Aunt Shalini in the British serial "The Jewel in the Crown" in 1984.
Beyond the world of showbiz, the actor was known for her work with children. In her spare time, Kaushal wrote stories for the children’s magazine Paraag, and in the late 1970s chaired the Children’s Film Society of India. She also worked extensively in children’s television on Doordarshan, appearing in serials such as "Khel Khilone".
Under her banner Gudia Ghar Productions (1989–1991), she hosted puppet-based programmes like "Chand Sitare", "Chaat Pani" and "Chandamama". She crafted the puppets herself and would modulate her voice to fit each character.
Kaushal married brother-in-law B S Sood, the chief engineer at the Bombay Port Trust, in 1948 after her sister's death in a car accident and became an adoptive mother to two daughters. The couple had three sons -- Rahul, Vidur and Shravan.
"I loved my sister deeply. I feared my nieces, who were just around two and three, would flounder without a mother... It seemed an ideal solution. It was not a sacrifice. I feared whether I’d be able to live up to the responsibility. More so, my husband was a genteel and decent human being," she told Filmfare.
She defied convention by balancing the demands of a leading lady career with the responsibilities of a home -- a choice that in her era often worked against women in the film industry.
Kaushal and Dilip Kumar were in love but the affair did not last long.
“We were both shattered. We were very happy with each other. We shared a great rapport. But what to do? That’s life. I can’t dump people and say ‘Enough now, I’m going!’ I had taken on the girls. I wouldn’t be able to show my face to my sister. My husband, a fine human being, understood why it happened. Everyone falls in love," she said in the Filmfare interview.
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Texas halts H-1B visas at state universities, agencies; to affect Indians
Houston (US) (PTI): Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered state agencies and public universities to immediately halt new H-1B visa petitions, tightening hiring rules at taxpayer-funded institutions, a step likely to impact Indian professionals.
The freeze will remain in effect through May 2027.
The directive issued on Tuesday said that the state agencies and public universities must stop filing new petitions unless they receive written approval from the Texas Workforce Commission.
The governor's order, in a red state that is home to thousands of H-1B visa holders, comes as the Trump administration has initiated steps to reshape the visa programme.
“In light of recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa programme, and amid the federal government’s ongoing review of that programme to ensure American jobs are going to American workers, I am directing all state agencies to immediately freeze new H-1B visa petitions as outlined in this letter,” Abbot said.
Institutions must also report on H-1B usage, including numbers, job roles, countries of origin, and visa expiry dates, the letter said.
US President Donald Trump on September 19 last year signed a proclamation ‘Restriction on entry of certain non-immigrant workers’ that restricted the entry into the US of those workers whose H-1B petitions are not accompanied or supplemented by a payment of USD 1,00,000.
The H1-B visa fee of USD 1,00,000 would be applicable only to new applicants, i.e. all new H-1B visa petitions submitted after September 21, including those for the FY2026 lottery.
Indians make up an estimated 71 per cent of all approved H-1B applications in recent years, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), with China in the second spot. The major fields include technology, engineering, medicine, and research.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the second-highest beneficiary with 5,505 approved H-1B visas in 2025, after Amazon (10,044 workers on H-1B visas), according to the USCIS. Other top beneficiaries include Microsoft (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202), Google (4,181), Deloitte (2,353), Infosys (2,004), Wipro (1,523) and Tech Mahindra Americas (951).
Texas public universities employ hundreds of foreign faculty and researchers, many from India, across engineering, healthcare, and technology fields.
Date from Open Doors -- a comprehensive information resource on international students and scholars studying or teaching at higher education institutions in the US -- for 2022-2023 showed 2,70,000 students from India embarked on graduate and undergraduate degrees in US universities, accounting for 25 per cent of the international student population in the US and 1.5 per cent of the total student population.
Indian students infuse roughly USD 10 billion annually into universities and related businesses across the country through tuition and other expenses – while also creating around 93,000 jobs, according to the Open Doors data.
Analysts warn the freeze could slow recruitment of highly skilled professionals, affecting academic research and innovation.
Supporters say the directive protects local jobs, while critics caution it could weaken Texas’ competitiveness in higher education and research.
The order comes amid broader debate in the US over skilled immigration and state-level interventions in federal programmes.
H-1B visas allow US companies to hire technically-skilled professionals that are not easily available in America. Initially granted for three years, these can be extended for another three years.
In September 2025, Trump had also signed an executive order ‘The Gold Card’, aimed at setting up a new visa pathway for those committed to supporting the United States; with individuals who can pay USD 1 million to the US Treasury, or USD 2 million if a corporation is sponsoring them, to get access to expedited visa treatment and a path to a Green Card.
