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She was called the cutest and most bubbly grandmother of Hindi films. Amitabh Bachchan used to call her a 100-year-old child, while the country's renowned writer and director Khwaja Ahmed Abbas called her India's Insadora Duncan. In her 102-year-old life, she entertained the whole world with her acting and dance for 8 decades. If we talk about Hindi cinema, then in her seven-decade career, she worked with four generations of the film world, from Prithviraj Kapoor to Ranveer Kapoor. Today we are talking about Zohra Sehgal of the Nawabi family of Rampur, who was born on 27 April 1912 in Saharanpur. When she was one year old, she lost the vision of her left eye due to glaucoma. At that time, she was treated in a London hospital at a cost of three lakh pounds and then her eyesight returned. Her mother died at a young age, but her mother wanted her daughters to go to Lahore and study. Respecting her wishes, she and her younger sister Uzra were sent to Queen Mary's College, Lahore, the most elite British women's school in the country of its time.
After completing her studies from Lahore, she traveled with her maternal uncle for three months by road to Germany to learn dance at Wigman Ballet, a dance school. During this time, she got the opportunity to see the dance drama Shiva-Parvati presented by India's famous dancer Uday Shankar and his group. As soon as the show was over, she met Uday Shankar and expressed her desire to join his troupe. In August 1935, Zohra Sehgal joined his dance group and immediately went on a tour of Japan, Egypt, Europe and America. After this world tour, on her return to India, she also started teaching in the dance school established by Uday Shankar in Almora. It was here that she met Kameshwar Sehgal, a resident of Indore, who was a scientist, had a passion for painting and sculptures and was fond of Indian dance. Although he was 8 years younger than her, both of them soon got married in 1942. Then she left the dance academy and opened her own dance school in Lahore, which soon became popular, but due to the partition, the situation had deteriorated so much that she had to go to Mumbai to her sister Uzra, who was working in Prithvi Theater. Zohra also started working in Prithvi Theatre in 1945 at a monthly salary of ₹400. She remained associated with it for 14 years and travelled all over the country. Before Prithvi Theatre, she also worked with IPTA for some time. Her first film was Dharti Ke Lal which was also produced by IPTA and its director was Khwaja Ahmed Abbas. During this time she choreographed many films, prominent among which were – Baazi, CID, Nau Do Gyarah etc. The dream sequence of Awara was also directed by her. In the same year, she also worked in Chetan Anand's film Neecha Nagar, which was also awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. After the sudden death of her husband Kameshwar in 1959, she came to Delhi from Mumbai and after living here for some time, she once again went to London in 1962 and then returned to India in 1983. She earned a lot of fame from the serial Padosi made by BBC in the year 1976-77. The role of Lady Chatterjee in the serial Jewel in the Crown in 1984 was the culmination of her career. After this, Zohra worked in Channel Four's popular serial Tandoori Nights. Zohra worked in more than 50 Indian and foreign films and TV serials in her career. She is still remembered for her excellent acting in films like 'Bhaji on the Beach' (1992), 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' (1999), 'The Courtesans of Bombay' (1982), 'Bend It Like Beckham' (2002), 'Dil Se' (1998), 'Veer Zara' (2004) and 'Cheeni Kum' (2007). The film 'Saawariya' released in November 2007 was her last film. Zohra Sehgal passed away on 10 July 2014, but she was one such actress of Hindi cinema who never grew old with her liveliness.
while going
Google dedicated its doodle to actress and dancer Zohra Sehgal on 29 September 2020. Zohra Sehgal was the first Indian actress to be recognized on the international stage. In this special doodle, Zohra Sehgal was in a classical dance pose. There was a floral background behind her. Zohra Sehgal's Google Doodle was designed by artist Parvati Pillai. Actually, on 29 September 1946, Zohra Sehgal's film Neecha Nagar was released at the Cannes Film Festival. The film Neecha Nagar won the Palme d'Or, the biggest award of the Cannes Film Festival.