Major filmmakers all agreed that she was an exceptional dramatic actress, and that she was next only to Meena Kumari, when it came to playing tragedy roles. But Nanda was getting tired of the weepy roles and quoted a huge fee when Nasir Hussain offered her the tragedienne role in Baharon Ke Sapne (1967) with a then-unknown Rajesh Khanna. Hussain balked at her salary demand and cast his girlfriend Asha Parekh instead. Director Vijay Anand had mixed feelings when he ghost-directed Nanda in Hum Dono (1961) . He told his wife Sushma that Nanda was a "fine artiste" but also complained that she was straying from her tragedienne image and trying to be a fashion icon like her co-star Sadhana Shivdasani.
