Top 12 nagins of Indian screen

After dominating Bollywood, shape-shifting snake-women have taken over television. Here’s a look at the most popular nagins over the years:
Mallika Sherawat in Hisss
The gutsy actress surely knows how to grab attention. Hisss saw the nagin as a seductress — transforming into a woman before she ventures out into the city, looking for her lover — with venom in her fangs and revenge on her mind. What follows is a chase, narrow escapes and stunning visual effects.To woo her fans, Mallika even went butt-naked — perhaps the only takeaway from the film.
Reena Roy in Nagin
Sporting a stylish avatar — complete with coloured lenses and a femme fatale expression — Reena Roy played the nagin in this multistarrer fantasy thriller. To seek revenge for her lover’s (Jeetendra) murder, the snake-woman tries every trick to entice her enemies in a deathtrap. The film proved to be a huge hit at the box office.
Sridevi in Nagina
How can one forget her vicious fang-sinking moves in the song, Main Teri Dushman! With her blue lenses almost popping out of her eye-sockets, Sridevi tops the onscreen nagins’ list. In this 1986 blockbuster, the actress essayed the role of an orphan girl, Rajni, who is later revealed to be a snake. Yes, you guessed it right, there’s again a revenge story lurking in the shadows. Rajni had sworn to avenge her nag’s death and also protect the nagmani. Three years later, Sridevi returned in the sequel, Nigahen. This film, however, bombed at the box office.
Meenakshi Seshadri in Nache Nagin Gali Gali
The beautiful Meenakshi Seshadri starred in this obscure 1989 film, opposite Nitish Bharadwaj, where she played a serpent. The film features Meenakshi (Mohini) and Nitish (Nagesh) as ichchadharis. A leprosy-afflicted magician (Sadashiv Amrapurkar) wants to steal Nagesh’s mani (pearl) so that he can enter a magical realm and cure himself. Whether Mohini is able to save the mani is for you to find out...
Rekha in Sheshnaag
This snake-fest shows two wish-fulfilling serpents being chased by an aghori, hell-bent on capturing them and attaining immortality. That’s when the deadly nagin decides to punish the aghori. But what made for an even better watch were Rekha’s bizarre headgear and outlandish attires.
Manisha Koirala in Jaani Dushman – Ek Anokhi Kahani
This film was not a sequel to the Reena Roy-starrer, though the director was the same — Rajkumar Kohli. It stars Manisha Koirala as the nagin, Vasundhra, while the nag was the filmmaker’s son, Armaan Kohli. Vasundhra dies of a curse and is reborn a human, Divya. Divya and her friends decide to catch up on Valentine’s Day, where two of her friends rape her. She dies once again, only to return as a ghost seeking revenge. Need we say more?
READ: Hisss-toric soundtrack for Mallika!
ON THE TUBE
Roop Durgapal in Akbar Birbal
It’ll be her first tryst with comedy and the actress didn’t think twice before taking up the offer. Roop will be playing the nagin, who was Akbar’s lover in his past life. Apparently, the myths about snakes prompted the actress to take up this project.
Rubina Fasihuddin in Neeli Aankhen
She quit sports to be on screen. And her maiden assignment saw her as a blue-eyed snake-woman, Vaishali, who resides underground, but comes to earth to lead a human life. She faces many obstacles, but tries to take revenge for whatever bad is being done to her. Eventually, she falls in love with a rich man’s son, Rahul, who happens to have an intense phobia for snakes.
Sayantani Ghosh in Naaginn
Still remembered for her performance in Naaginn, Sayantani made everybody sit up and take notice with her portrayal of Amrita in the serial. An ichchadhari nagin — the daughter of the king and queen of the snake community — Amrita transforms herself into a woman to seek revenge against the Singh family. The Singhs were after the valuable nagmani and also responsible for her parents’ death.
Varsha Usgaonkar in Chandrakanta
Who can forget this fantasy series, Chandrakanta, originally telecast on Doordarshan between 1994 and 1996? One of the most spectacular shows of the era, it saw actress Varsha Usgaonkar as the snake-queen Roopmati. She was also the mother of the serial’s protagonist, Chandrakanta.
Dimpy Mahajan in Kahani Chandrakanta Ki
After her reality show wedding to Rahul Mahajan, in 2010, which made her a household name, Dimpy Mahajan debuted on the small screen as an actor with Kahani Chandrakanta Ki. The model-actress ditched the saas-bahu sagas to play the role of an ichchadhari nagin in this adventure-fantasy show, plotting revenge against dacoit Mangal Singh for killing her lover, Naag Jeewan.
Sara Khan in Sasural Simar Ka
The latest track of Sasural Simar Ka is witnessing the onslaughts of an ichchadhari nagin, played by Sara Khan, who is wreaking havoc in Bhardwaj household. Roli (Avika Gor) meets with an accident and sustains injuries on her face. Taking advantage of the situation, the nagin aka Maya enters the house as Roli and ends up kidnapping Roli’s husband, Siddharth (Manish Raisinghan).
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Listen to Nagina songs on Gaana.com
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