(1912-2014) – Actress and Dancer

Do you remember that cute old Indian woman who was in films like Bhaji on the Beach and Bend It Like Beckham? I was astounded to learn that she was eighty-one when she was in Bhaji on the Beach and ninety in Bend It Like Beckham. That’s when I wanted to know more about this energetic older woman with a lust for life. 

Zohra Mumtaz Sehgal (born Sahibzadi Zohra Mumtazullah Khan Begum) was born on 27 April 1912 and died on 10 July 2014. She was an Indian actress, dancer and choreographer, who started in a contemporary dance troupe and then began acting in the 1940s. She appeared in several British films, television shows and Bollywood productions in a career that spanned over six decades. These include Neecha Nagar, The Mystic Masseur (2001), Dil Se.. (1998) and the TV serials The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Tandoori Nights (1985–87) and Amma and Family (1996). At the age of 90, she played the central character in the 2002 film Chalo Ishq Ladaaye. Considered the doyenne of Indian theatre, she acted with the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) and Prithviraj Kapoor’s Prithvi Theatre for fourteen years and won numerous awards.

Sharmilla Beezmohun

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zohra_Sehgal