Vinita Butt

Biography

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...