Nirmal Rishi

Some Lesser Known Facts About Nirmal Rishi

• Nirmal Rishi grew up in a middle-class family in Mansa, Punjab.

• Her family didn’t give her a name until she turned two. It was when her name was to be added in a document, the village Patwari gave her the name Nirmala. Later, it was changed to Nirmal.

• Growing up Nirmal developed an interest in acting and took part in various school plays. The first play in which she acted was Kabuli Wala.

• In her school days, she also actively took part in other co-curricular activities like sports, singing, shooting, and dancing. While she was studying in class 10, she earned 18 certificates in co-curricular activities.

• As a child, she desired to join the Indian Army.

• In school, she was a part of the NCC team and received the J1 and J2 certificates.

• Nirmal was one of the best shooters in her district in her school days.

• As she excelled in various sports in her school and college days, Nirmal decided to become a physical education instructor and joined Government College Patiala for Physical Education.

• Although in her time girls were not allowed to move out of their houses, Nirmal’s family always supported her in making her career.

• While she was working as a lecturer at the Government College Patiala, she performed a piece of mono acting, which was praised by everyone.

• During that time, theatre artist Harpal Tiwana and his wife Neena were looking for good talents to start a theatre group in Patiala. Nirmal became a part of their theatre group ‘Punjab Kala Manch’ and began acting in plays in 1966.

  

• The first play she performed with the group was Aduhre Sapne.

• She then appeared in several other plays like Kanak Di Bali, Loha Kut, and Hind di Chaadar. She also performed the Punjabi version of the play And in the Dry Mountains. Bollywood actor Om Puri was also a part of the play.

  

• She then shifted to Ludhiana along with the theatre group and took part in plays like Diwa Bale Sari Raat, Chandigarh Musibet Da Ghar, Garam Bazaar, and Behrupiya.

• Nirmal once wrote a play titled Maa Menu Mari Naa. Initially, the play’s duration was only 10 minutes. However, the play received so much love from the audience that its duration was changed to 2 hours.

• During the early nineties, Nirmal and her theatre group staged many plays in London, Canada, and America.

• Their play ‘Long Da Lishkara’ became very popular and was later made into a film with the same name. Nirmal played the role of Gulabo Maasi in the film and gained immense popularity.

• She then appeared in many Punjabi films like Ucha Dar Babe Nanak Da (1985), Qurbani Jatt Di  (1990), Mela (1997), Akhiyaan Udeekdian (2009), and Oh My Pyo! (2014).

• Some of her popular Punjabi films include Angrej (2015), Love Punjab (2016), Nikka Zaildar (2016), Lahoriye (2017), Rabb Da Radio (2017), Guddiyan Patole (2019), and Godday Godday Chaa (2023).

  

• In 2016, Rishi played a small role in the Bollywood film Dangal.