On April 27 was born an Indian actress who is known in most parts of the world as a veteran theatre artiste and a film actress. She celebrates her 102nd birthday on Monday. An actress who is even a year older than our Indian cinema.
This actress is Zohra Sehgal whose association with this hill region makes people here proud.Zohra, often called Bollywood's ‘laadli', was last seen in films like ‘Veer Zara’, ‘Ham Dil De Chuke Sanam’, ‘Cheeni Kum’ and ‘Saawariya’. In her career spanning almost eight decades, she has acted in a number of Bollywood and even Hollywood films.In 2008, Zohra Sehgal was named the 'laadli of the Century' by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF)-laadli Media Awards.
She was born to Zohra Mumtaz (Sahibzadi Zohra Begum Mumtaz-ullah Khan') on 27th April 1912, in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. She was one of seven children of a land-owning family of Rohilla Pathans, of Mumtazullah Khan and Natiqua Begum, belonging to Rampur, Uttar Pradesh.
Although she was born in Saharanpur, she grew up in the beautiful, forested hill town of Chakrata. Chakrata is in Dehradun district and these years spent there by Zohra became the base of a life-long relationship with the Doon valley. During her childhood, Zohra resided many a time in Dehradun at her uncle’s ancestral home in the Dalanwala area of the city. This famous house “Nasreen” now houses the famous Welham Girls’ School. It was her maternal uncle’s house and she spent vacations here with her cousins.
It was her maternal uncle (Mama) Sahebzada Saeeduzzafar Khan (also from Rampur), whose family lived in Dehradun and who was studying medicine in the UK, who arranged for her to apprentice under a British actor. But she decided to learn dance.She then stayed in Dresden for three years studying modern dance. It was there that she watched the famous ballet ‘Shiv-Parvati’ by renowned dancer Uday Shankar who was touring Europe. She was extremely impressed and went back stage to meet him and he promised her a job in India after she completed her course.
While still in Europe, she received a telegram from Uday Shankar: “leaving for Japan tour. Can you join immediatelyIJ Thus on 8th August 1935, she joined his troupe and danced across Japan, Egypt, Europe and the US, as a leading lady, along with French dancer, Simkie. When Uday Shankar moved back to India in 1940, she became a teacher at the Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre at Almora. Uday Shankar’s dance was inspired by various arts including painting, theatre, sculpture and poetry. Not many people are aware that among the students who were part of the centre which Uday Shankar ran at Dhar ki Tuni (Patal Devi) near Almora were Uday Shankar’s wife Amala, the famous Guru Dutt and lakshmi Shankar. Guru Dutt was among Zohra’s students. later, she was the dance director in two of his films — Baazi and CID. Zohra’s younger sister, Uzra, also joined her at Almora and taught there.
It was here that Zohra met Kameshwar Sehgal a young scientist, painter and dancer from Indore. He also taught at Uday Shankar’s centre. There was initial opposition from her parents, but they eventually gave their approval to marry. They married on August 14, 1942 Both became accomplished dancers and choreographers. Kameshwar composed a noted ballet for human puppets and choreographed the ballet lotus Dance. When the centre shut down, they migrated to lahore and set up their own Zohresh Dance Institute. The growing communal tension preceding the partition made them migrate to Bombay with one-year-old daughter, Kiran. By now, Zohra’s sister, Uzra Butt, was already a leading lady with Prithviraj Kapoor’s Prithvi Theatre. later, Zohra also joined Prithvi Theatre as an actress in 1945 with a monthly salary of Rs400, and toured across India with the group for 14 years.
In 1993, a critically acclaimed play, ‘Ek Thhi Nani’, was staged in lahore for the first time, featuring Zohra and her sister Uzra Butt. The play is based on the lives of Zohra and Uzra, who were separated in 1947 and re-united only in the late 1980s, after a gap of 40 years. Uzra Butt died in 2010.
Uttarakhand will always remember its association with Zohra fondly and Nasreen, the house in Dalanwala, where hundreds of young girls study and play now, will never forget Zohra and Uzra who spent many fun times on its lovely premises. The hill region wishes Zohra Sehgal a very happy birthday .