Take off with Natarajan

Often called the grand old lady of Bollywood, she last appeared in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya(with Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor) in 2007. She acted in hits like Cheeni Kum (with Amitabh Bachchan), Dil Se (with Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala), Veer Zaara (Shah Rukh and Preity Zinta), Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai) and Bend It Like Beckham.

Born on April 27, 1912 in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh in a traditional Muslim family, Sehgal, third of her seven siblings, grew up in Chakrata near Dehradun and was sent to Lahore to pursue her higher education.

As a dancer, she performed across Japan, Egypt, Europe and the U.S.. She married scientist, painter and dancer Kameshwar Sehgal in August 1942. The couple had two children, Kiran and Pavan. Kameshwar died in 1952 and Zohra raised the children all by herself.

On her return from foreign trips, Sehgal had to don the burqa while studying in Lahore’s prestigious Queen Mary College, meant for daughters of aristocratic families, an institution where strict purdah was observed and males invited to speak there were put behind a screen.

Considered the doyenne of Indian theatre, Ms. Sehgal acted with Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) and Prithviraj Kapoor’s Prithvi Theatre for 14 years. In 1946, she debuted in IPTA’s first film production Dharti Ke Lal, which dealt with the Bengal famine. She also acted in another IPTA film — Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar.

She choreographed for a few Hindi films as well, including classics like Guru Dutt’s Baazi (1951) and the dream sequence song in Raj Kapoor’s film Awaara.

Sehgal moved to London on a drama scholarship in 1962, where she appeared in many TV productions including The Jewel in the Crown, Tandoori Nights, My Beautiful Laundrette and The Raj Quartet.