Google Doodles features the Iconic Indian Actress Sahibzaadi Begum Zohra Mumtazullah Khan. The question that might arise in your minds is why today? Yes, if you check Wikipedia today is neither her Birth Anniversary nor her Death Anniversary.Today in the year 1946 her Film ‘Neecha Nagar’ had released at the Cannes Film Festival. She bagged the Festival’s highest honor that year, the Palme d’Or prize.

She began her career as a member to contemporary dance troops; she transitioned her career as an actress in the 1940s. After graduation she joined Uday Shankar’s dance troupe where she met her partner, Kameshwar Sehgal. They got married that in 1942. It was to be heard that Jawaharlal Nehru was to attend their wedding but as he got arrested just a few days before the wedding he could not make it.  She was with the troop even after her marriage but it was the shit down of the troop that made her move to Lahore. After the partition Zohra and her husband moved to Bombay and she joined Prithviraj Kapur’s theater as a stage artist and continued working there for the next 14 years. Her contribution towards the Entertainment World is a legacy that cannot be forgotten. She appeared in several British Films, Television Shows and Bollywood productions throughout her career that spanned over six decades. Her last appearance for Bollywood was with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya in 2007.  

The list to her remarkable works goes on but to name a few are Neecha Nagar, Afsar, Bend it like Beckham, Saawariya, Cheeni Kum. Zohra Sehgal was awarded with Padma Shri in 1998, Kalidas Samman in 2001 and a numerous awards for her contribution towards music, Dance and Drama. It won’t be wrong to say she lived an entertaining life. She was also awarded the second highest Indian civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan in 2010. Sehgal passed away at the age of 102 at her residence in Delhi in 2014.

Personal tributes by listening to her recite the famous work ‘Mujhse Pehli Si Mohhabbat’ by Faiz. Link below :

By- Limakshi Devi.