Nutan was born in a Marathi family as the eldest of four children to director-poet Kumarsen Samarth and his actress wife Shobhna. She had two sisters: actress Tanuja and Chatura and a brother Jaideep. Her parents separated before Jaideep's birth. Nutan was educated in St. Joseph's Convent School, Panchgani before heading to Switzerland for further studies in 1953. She was sent there at the behest of her mother after her films failed to perform well. She described the one year spent there as the "happiest in my life".

Nutan started her career as an actress as a fourteen-year-old in Hamari Beti (1950). This film was produced by her mother, Shobhana. In 1952 she was the winner of the Miss India pageant.

Her first big break was Seema, for which she won her first Filmfare Best Actress Award. She followed her success with a romantic comedy, Paying Guest, in which she co-starred with Dev Anand. In 1959 she starred in two hit films, Anari (with Raj Kapoor) and Bimal Roy's Sujata (with Sunil Dutt). In the 1960s and 1970s she had many more successful films including Chhalia (1960), Saraswatichandra (1968), Devi (1970) and Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki (1978).

In 1960 she starred opposite Raj Kapoor once again in Manmohan Desai's Chhalia. She received another Filmfare nomination for the role. In a film review at the time, Filmfare wrote, "As the unfortunate girl disowned by her relatives for no fault of hers, Nutan puts over a superb and memorable portrayal."

She formed a popular screen couple with co-star Dev Anand and the two acted in four films together – Paying Guest (1957), Baarish (1957), Manzil (1960) and Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963).

In 1963, Nutan starred in Bimal Roy's socio-realist Bandini as Kalyani, a young prisoner who was convicted after poisoning the wife of her lover (Ashok Kumar). The story follows her life in prison and how later she has to make a choice between her past love and a young prison doctor (Dharmendra) who fell in love with her. Nutan had to be persuaded to act in the film as she had quit acting after marriage. Bandini was a major critical success, which was attributed by critics mostly to Nutan's portrayal, which is regarded as one of the finest performances in the history of Indian cinema. The film won the Filmfare Award for Best Movie and she received her third Best Actress Award. The Bengal Film Journalists' Association, while ranking the film as the third-best Indian film of the year, acknowledged her with the Best Actress (Hindi section) award. Author and critic Dinesh Raheja wrote, "Sans screaming hysteria-niks, Nutan puts across one of the finest performances seen on Hindi screen. She recognised and was perfectly in tandem with Kalyani's innate strength of character." Film and theatre critic Gautaman Bhaskaran wrote for The Hindu, "Nutan as Kalyani gave perhaps her career's best performance. Splendidly expressive, her understated role is something that cannot be easily matched by today's painted heroines. Fear and anger show up so lividly in Nutan's eyes that they haunt you long after you have walked out of the theatre." In 2010, Filmfare included her performance in its "80 Iconic Performances" list. Anupama Chopra included the film in her list of "The 20 Best Hindi Films Ever Made", calling her role "one of Hindi cinema’s most complex and fully realized female characters," and further noting, "This was the role of a lifetime and Nutan, who ... gave it all. Her face raged with a grand passion and a quiet grace." In 2013, conducting a list of "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema" in celebration of a hundred years of Indian cinema, Forbes India included Nutan's performance, hailing her work as "the best acting by a lead actress in Indian cinema".

Her fourth Filmfare Award came for Milan (1967). She starred opposite Amitabh Bachchan in 1973's Saudagar (1973), for which she received a sixth Filmfare nomination and a third BFJA award. In 1978, she made an astonishing return to the screen as the righteous Sanjukta Chauhan in Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki (1978). For this performance, she received an eighth Filmfare career nomination and won her fifth Filmfare best actress award, at the age of 42. She thus became a record holder in the category, having won five awards for Best Actress at Filmfare. At age 42, she is also the oldest winner of the award. Nutan was perhaps the only actress of her generation to command leading roles in her 40s, with tremendous success. Following this, she starred in Saajan ki Saheli (1981), as an ignorant, jealous wife to a husband who knowingly befriends the daughter she abandoned at childbirth.

In the remaining 1980s she played roles in blockbuster films such as Meri Jung (1985), Naam (1986) and Karma (1986). Karma was notable for being the first time she was paired with actor Dilip Kumar. For Mere Jung she won a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her last film released while she was alive was Kanoon Apna Apna in 1989. She died in 1991 of cancer. Two of her films Naseebwala (1992) and Insaniyat (1994) were released after her death. She also gave a stellar performance as Kaliganj ki Bahu in the TV serial Mujrim Hazir, her only role on the small screen.

Nutan was noted for her willingness to play unconventional roles and several of her roles were labelled "path-breaking". M.L. Dhawan from The Tribune wrote, "When squeakers and screamers ruled the roost, Nutan fine-tuned her dialogue delivery with an evocative voice. A natural throw was the hallmark of Nutan’s dialogue delivery. She was low key and mellow as she was peppery and sarcastic and yet made a strong impact." According to Dhawan, "a fleeting expression on her face conveyed much more than dialogue," and he further noted her for accepting only roles in which "she either played the main part or at least shared equal footing with the male counterpart."^[18]

According to Encyclopædia Britannica, Nutan had "developed a natural acting style under Bimal Roy's direction."^[19]

Actresses like Sadhana and Smita Patil noted Nutan as their influence.^[20] Sadhana was once quoted as saying, "If there was any actress I modelled myself in the lines of it was the versatile Nutan in Seema, Sujata and Bandini. Parakh was a film where I really followed Nutan."^[21] Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali said of her, "They don't make actresses like her anymore."^[22]

In 2011, Rediff.com listed her as the third-greatest actress of all-time.^[23]

In 2013, while including her performance in Bandini in their list of "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema", Forbes India observed, "Nutan’s genius lay in portraying a whole range of emotions without resorting to over-the-top histrionics."^[16]

Nutan’s narrative is depicted in the book Nutan – Asen Mi Nasen Mi written by famous Marathi author Lalita Tamhane. The book can be summarized as describing Nutan’s life experiences, interactions with co-actors/family/friends, etc., as told by her to Lalita Tamhane.

A postage stamp, bearing her photo, was released to honour her by India’s Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology in February 2011.

Google commemorated Nutan with a Doodle on her 81st birthday.^[24]

Nutan married naval Lieutenant-Commander Rajnish Bahl on 11 October 1959. Their only son Mohnish, was born in 1961. He went on to become a television and film actor.

Nutan was fond of hunting.^[25]

Nutan was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 1990.^[26] In February 1991, she was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai after she fell ill. At the time, she was filming Garajna. She died at 12:07 p.m. (IST) on 21 February.^[27] Her husband died from a fire accident in his apartment in 2004.^[28]

Civilian award

• 1974: Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour by the Government of India.

Filmfare Awards

• Filmfare Best Actress Award – Won
  1956 Seema – Gauri
  1959 Sujata – Sujata
  1963 Bandini – Kalyani
  1967 Milan – Radha
  1978 Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki – Sanjukta Chouhan
  
• Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award – Won
  1985 Meri Jung
  
• Filmfare Best Actress Award – Nomination
  1960 Chhalia – Shanti
  1973 Saudagar – Mahjubhi
  
• Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award – Nomination
  1973 Saudagar – Mahjubhi
  1973 Anuraag – Anu Rai
  1978 Main Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki^[29] – Sanjukta Chouhan
  

Other awards

• BFJA Best Actress Award (Hindi) – Won
  1963 Bandini^[11] – Kalyani
  1973 Milan^[30] – Radha
  1974 Saudagar^[31] – Mahjubhi