Vinita Butt

Born in Rawalpindi on April 3rd, 1937, of Hindu-English parentage, Vinita spent the first seven years of her life in Kashmir. Educated at various hill-station schools, Vini came to Bombay in November 1954, some time after she had done her Senior Cambridge in Bangalore. In Bangalore, she had been a member of the Bangalore Amateur Dramatic Society (the B.A.D.S.) and appeared on the stage in Tagore’s “Sacrifice” and one of J. B. Priestley’s plays.

It was in Bangalore that Guru Dutt first saw her and, struck by her good looks and vivacious personality, offered her a film contract. He took some photographs of her back with him to Bombay and then wrote to her, offering her a role. The terms were not exactly flattering and Vini and her mother soon forgot about the episode. In Bombay Vinita met Anwar Hussein, an old friend of the family, and, through him, Chandulal Shah who gave her a small role in “Oot Patang,” the film he was then making.

While working in “Oot Patang”, Vinita visited the Mehboob Studios where, once again she met Guru Dutt, who had gone on the floors with his film, “Mr. & Mrs. 55”. He offered Vinita the role of the Anglo-Indian office girl Julie and she accepted it.