Begum Para

Begum Para was born as Zubeda Ul Haq in Jhelum in British India (present day in Pakistan). Her family was from Aligarh. Her father, Mian Ehsanul-Haq, was a judge who at some point in his life went into the judicial service of the princely state of Bikaner, now northern Rajasthan, where he became chief justice of its highest court. He was a fine cricketer of his time.[4] She was brought up very disciplined yet liberal. She spent her childhood in Bikaner. She was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University. Her elder brother Masrurul Haq, had gone off to Bombay in the late 1930s to become an actor. There he had met and fell in love with the Bengali actress Protima Dasgupta, and married her.[5][4]

Whenever she visited them in Bombay, she was quite taken up with the glitzy world of her sister-in-law. She used to accompany her on many occasions and get-togethers. People would get quite impressed with her looks and offer her a lot of roles. One such offer came from Sashadhar Mukherjee and Devika Rani. Her father consented to her wishes reluctantly, and requested her to never work in Lahore.[5]

Advertisement for Begam Para in Chhamia, from a 1945 newspaper

Begum Para's first break turned out to be 1944 film Chand, from Prabhat Studios in Poona. Prem Adib was the hero, and Sitara Devi was the vamp in the film. It did extremely well and Para started getting paid about Rs. 1500 a month. Soon after, she and her sister-in-law Protima made a film called Chhamia (1945) based on the novel ‘Pygmalion’, which again was a huge success. Para signed a lot of films after Chhamia, but she couldn't quite establish herself as an actress. Because she had a highly scandalous image, people always gave her the role of glamour doll in most films. She did not mind this because she always played herself on screen.[6]

She did Sohni Mahiwal (1946) and Zanjeer (1947) with Ishwarlal and Dikshit; Neel Kamal (1947) with Raj Kapoor; Mehendi (1947) with Nargis; Suhaag Raat (1948) with Bharat Bhushan and Geeta Bali; Jhalka (1948); and Meherbani (1950) with Ajit Khan.[5] She also worked in Ustad Pedro (1951), produced and directed by the then well-known actor, Sheikh Mukhtar. It was a fun film, and was packed with action, romance, and stunts.[7]

In 1951 she posed for photographer James Burke for a Life magazine photo shoot.[8] Para's last role was in the movie Kar Bhala in 1956.[6] She was also offered to play Nigar Sultana’s role 'Bahar' in Mughal-e-Azam (1960). However, she refused to play the role because she considered it against her image.[5]

She made a powerful comeback on the silver screen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya in 2007 as Sonam Kapoor's grandmother (after over 50 years of disappearance in movies and eventually became her final film, before her death the following year, 2008).[6]

She married actor Nasir Khan, who was an actor and filmmaker and the younger brother of Bollywood star Dilip Kumar.[9] They had three children, Lubna, Nadir and actor Ayub Khan. She had three granddaughters, Kichu Dandiya a jewellery designer, Tahura Khan and Zohra Khan. Begum Para's father Mian Ehsan-ul-Haq of Jalandhar, was a judge who joined the princely state of Bikaner, now northern Rajasthan, where he became chief justice of its highest court. Her husband died in 1974.[10] Following her husband's death, she briefly moved to Pakistan in 1975 to be with her family, two years later she relocated back to India.[11][4]

She died in her sleep on 9 December 2008 at the age of 82.

Media related to Begum Para at Wikimedia Commons

• Begum Para at IMDb