Editor's Pick

ZOHRA SEGAL was born Sahibzadi Zohra Begum Mumtaz-ullah Khan in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on 27 April 1912. After graduating from Lahore’s Queen Mary College, she moved to Europe and enrolled in a dance school in Dresden, Germany. While there, she was invited to join a renowned troupe led by the dancer and choreographer Uday Shankar. She began as a principal dancer, and later became a teacher at Shankar’s dance institute in Almora, Uttarakhand, where she met her husband, Kameshwar Segal. The two settled briefly in Lahore, but moved to Bombay in 1945 with their daughter, Kiran. There, Segal joined the Prithvi Theatre group, with which she toured for 14 years. She also began a career in film, and went on to garner critical and popular acclaim for her roles both in cinema and on television. She continued acting well into her nineties, cementing her legend. Segal passed away on 10 July 2014, at the age of 102.