Zohra Sehgal

Zohra Begum Mumtaz-ullah Khan (Sahibzadi Zohra Begum Mumtaz-ullah Khan; 27 April 1912 – 10 July 2014), was better known by her stage name Zohra Sehgal. She was an Indian actress and choreographer. Sehgal started her career as dancer with Uday Shankar in 1935. She also worked with him for the next eight years.

Sehgal (front left) with the Uday Shankar Ballet Troupe in the 1930s.

She has been in many Bollywood movies as a character actor. She has also been in English language movies and television shows. She has appeared in Bhaji on the Beach (1992), The Mystic Masseur (2001), Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Dil Se.. (1998) and Cheeni Kum (2007), The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Tandoori Nights (1985–87), Amma and Family (1996). She retired in 2007.

Sehgal was born in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh in 1912.^[1] She grew up in an aristocratic Muslim family.^[2] She received the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honor, in 2010.^[3] She described herself as an agnostic, having been an atheist in her youth.^[4]

Sehgal died in a hospital in New Delhi from cardiac arrest caused by pneumonia on 10 July 2014 at the age of 102. ^[5]