Zohra Sehgal

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Zohra Mumtaz Segal (27 April 1912 – 10 July 2014) was an Indian actor, dancer, and choreographer.

Segal began her career as a dancer in Uday Shankar's troupe, performing in countries such as the United States and Japan.

She went on to appear in numerous Bollywood films as a character actress with a career span of more than 60 years. Neecha Nagar (1946), Bhaji on the Beach (1992), The Mystic Masseur (2001), Dil Se, Dil Se.

(1998), Saawariya and Cheeni Kum (2006); and the television series The Jewel in the Crown (1984) Tandoori Nights (1985–87) and Amma and Family (1996).

She starred in the 2002 film Chalo Ishq Ladaye, playing the central protagonist at the age of 90.

She worked with the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and Prithviraj Kapoor's Prithvi Theatre for 14 years, being considered a doyenne of Indian theatre.

She has appeared in English-language films, including Bend It Like Beckham. She was given the Padma Shri in 1998, Kalidas Samman in 2001, and Sangeet Natak Akademi in 2004.

The National Academy of Music, Dance, and Drama of India awarded her with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for lifetime achievement.

In 2010, she was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award.

She died in a New Delhi hospital on July 10, 2014, due to cardiac arrest.

Early life and family

Zohra Begum Khan was born in Saharanpur, British India, on April 27th, 1912, to Mumtazullah Khan and Natiqua Begum. She was raised in a traditional Muslim household in Chakrata (present-day Uttarakhand) and was the third of seven children — Zakullah, Hajrah, Ikramullah, Uzra (Uzra Butt), Amina and Sabra. Sehgal referred to herself as a tomboy who loved climbing trees and playing outdoor games. When she first developed glaucoma at the age of one, she lost vision in her left eye. She was admitted to a Birmingham hospital where she was treated at a £300 expense.

Sehgal and her siblings were enrolled at the Queen Mary College in Lahore following the death of her mother at an early age. The institute held strict purdah, and students invited to teach lectures and seminars were only permitted to do so from behind a screen. Sehgal decided against marrying her sister after she saw her sister's dissolution. Sahebzada Saeeduzzafar Khan, a British actress, recruited her to apprentice under a British actor after graduating. They began by driving from Lahore, crossed Iran, Palestine, and Gaza before arriving in Damascus, Syria, where they met her cousin. In the meantime, they travelled to Egypt and caught a boat to Alexandria, Egypt.

Sehgal's aunt in Dresden, Germany, encouraged her to enroll in Mary Wigman's ballet academy. Sehgal passed the entrance exam with no prior participation in the dance industry and became the first Indian to study at the university. While living in the house of Countess Liebenstein, she remained in Dresden for the next three years studying modern dance. At a performance of the Shiv-Parvati ballet, which she had choreographed, she made a turning point in her life. After completing her course, Shankar promised her a job on her return to India.

Personal life

Despite Sehgal's initial reluctance from her father, she married Kameshwar Sehgal, a Hindu. Jawaharlal Nehru was supposed to attend the wedding reception, but he was arrested a few days earlier for supporting Gandhi's Quit India Movement.

Sehgal's two children were born; Kiran Segal, an Odissi dancer and Pavan Sehgal, who works with the WHO. Kiran Segal wrote the book Zohra Sehgal: Fatty, which was published in 2012.

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Career

"I'm heading for Japan tour," Shankar wrote on a telegram, saying, "I'm heading for Sehgal."

Can you join immediately?"

Sehgal joined his company in August 1935, following that. The group visited Japan, Egypt, and several parts of Europe and the United States. Sehgal, a French national, and Simkin, a lead dancer of the troupe, joined Sehgal as the troupe's lead dancer. Sehgal became a mentor at the Uday Shankar Cultural Centre in Almora on their return to India in 1940. Kameshwar Sehgal, a young scientist, painter, and dancer from Indore who spent eight years with the Radha Soami sect, was born here.

Both of them went back to work at the Cultural Centre and established themselves as the best choreographers in the field. Kameshwar Sehgal composed a notable ballet for human puppets and choreographed the ballet Lotus Dance during their stay in Almora. The pair then moved to Lahore, where they established the Zohresh Dance Institute, their own dance academy. Following the communal uprising surrounding Partition of India, the couple and their one-year-old daughter, Kiran, migrated to Bombay. Sehgal joined the Prithvi Theatre (where her sister, Uzra Butt, was also employed) in 1945 as an actor with a monthly wage of Rs 400, and toured India with the company.

Sehgal, who appeared in several plays before being introduced by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Dharti Ke Lal in 1946, made her debut in IPTA's first film, Neecha Nagar, a IPTA-backed film. Neecha Nagar, directed by Chetan Anand and starring Rafiq Ahmed and Uma Anand, was one of the first projects of the parallel cinema movement in the subcontinent. Following its debut, the film became a critical success and was screened at Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Palme d'Or award.

Sehgal met with a number of theatre and film stars during her stay in Bombay. She continued her involvement with theatre, appearing in hit films including Ebrahim Alkazi's Din Ke Andhere (portraying Begum Qudsia) and K.A. The stage productions for IPTA were produced by Abbas. She lived in a rented house rented by Chetan and Uma Anand. She has also worked as a choreographer for Hindi films, including Guru Dutt's Baazi and Raj Kapoor's Awaara (both 1951).

Sehgal moved to Delhi after her husband's death in 1959 and was named as the head of the newly established Natya Academy. She was in the same industry for about three years. Sehgal was granted a drama scholarship in 1962, which required her to live in London, United Kingdom. She briefly worked as a dance instructor at a Chelsea-based school run by Bharatanatyam dancer Ram Gopal. In 1964, Sehgal made her television debut with a BBC adaptation of a Kipling tale The Rescue of Pluffles. She went on to appear in one episode of science fiction fantasy series Doctor Who in 1965; the episode in which Sehgal appeared is now lost. Padosi, Padosi, was also anchored 26 episodes of BBC TV series Padosi (Neighbours, 1976–77).

Sehgal's first film appearance came in 1982 when she was signed by Merchant Ivory Productions. She appeared in the James Ivory-directed The Courtesans of Bombay, which was released later this year. Lady Chatterjee was the central figure in the television version of The Jewel in the Crown (ITV, 1984). For the next few years, she made occasional appearances in British films, most notably in The Raj Quartet, The Jewel in the Crown, Tandoori Nights, and My Beautiful Laundrette.

Sehgal returned to India in the mid-1990s and spent a few months in Burdwan. At the time, she appeared in many films, plays, and TV series. She first performed poetry at a Uday Shankar memorial held by his brother, Ravi Shankar in 1983, and then moved to poetry; she began to perform poetry on several occasions. She even went to Pakistan to recite verses for "An Evening With Zohra Sehgal." Her impromptu appearances of Punjabi and Urdu became a staple. Following stage appearances, she was often asked by the audience to recite Hafeez Jullundhri's most popular nazm, Abhi To Main Jawan Hoon.

The critically acclaimed play Ek Thi Nani premiered in Lahore for the first time in 1993, starring Zohra and her sister Uzra Butt (who was still living in Pakistan). In 2001, UCLA presented A Granny for All Seasons, a reimagining of the original. She appeared in Hindi films from 1996 to present a variety of roles, including Dil Se, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Veer Zara, Saawariya, and Cheeni Kum. She was 90 when she appeared in the film Chalo Ishq Ladaye in 2002, where she was the central character of the film and Govinda played her grandson. Ishq Ladaye's film had her riding a bike and fighting the villains as well. Sheila Dikshit, then Chief Minister of Delhi, received the award ceremony in 2008 at the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF)-Ladli Media Awards in New Delhi, and she was named Laadli of the Century.

Prithviraj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar, Dev Anand, Govinda, Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, and Ranbir Kapoor have all worked with heroes from generation to date.

In 2012, she became the first actress to appear on Doctor Who to honor their 100th birthday, and she was also the first living actress to have appeared on Doctor Who until 2019, when she was overshadowed by Earl Cameron.

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Awards

• 1963 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
• 1998: Padma Shri
• 2001: Kalidas Samman
• 2002: Padma Bhushan
• 2004: Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
• 2010: Padma Vibhushan