Hindi Movie Review Cheeni Kum - Cast & Crew

Zohra Sehgal is a veteran Indian actress and also a famous choreographer on her era. She was born on April 27, 1912 and died on July 10, 2014.

Zohra’s real name is Sahibzadi Zohra Begum Mumtazullah Khan. She was born from an old Muslim household in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh in India. Her parents are Mumtazullah Khan and Natiqua Begum who belong to the Rohilla Pathans community. Zohra is the third in the family and she usually plays games for the boys and climb trees. She lost her left eye vision when she was just one year old due to glaucoma. She was treated in Birmingham hospital with a cost of £300. Her mother died when she was very young. She studied at Queen Mary College in Lahore, Pakistan, an institution that is strictly for the girls. Zohra decided not to get married after seeing the failed marriage of her sister; instead, she pursues her career.

Her aunt from Europe took Zohra to Mary Wigman’s Ballet School in Dresden, Germany and she became the first Indian to study ballet on that institution. She stayed at Dresden for three years and she studied modern dance. She stayed with the Countess Liebenstein residence. She got a chance to watch the Uday Shankar’s (Indian dancer and choreographer) Shiv-Parvati ballet while they were in Europe. She was impressed on the show so she met Uday backstage. Uday gave her word to Zohra that he will give her a job when she came back to India.

After some time, she got a telegram from Uday and told her if she can join them in Japan for a show. In 1935, she joined the troupe and started dancing in Japan, Europe, US and Egypt. She became a leading lady opposite Simkie, a French dancer. Uday went back to India in year 1940 and Zohra became a teacher in Uday’s cultural center in Almora. From there, she met Kameshwar Segal, her husband who is not just a dancer, but a scientist and a painter as well. They have two children namely, Kiran and Pavan. Her daughter, Kiran wrote her biography in 2012 entitled, Zohra Sehgal: Fatty. Zohra and her husband’s journey as a dancer and choreographer started until they came back to Mumbai. Zohra’s sister, Uzra Butt works in Prithvi Theater so she also joined the theater in 1945 and work for the next fourteen years. In 1945, she also joined the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) and performed in various plays. She was debuted in the film industry through the first production of IPTA under the direction of Khwaja Ahmad Abbas in 1946. The film was entitled, Dharti Ke Lal, followed by the Hindi film, Neecha Nagar. This film is the first Indian film to receive critical international award and got the Palme d’Or award in Cannes Film festival. She was still mostly involved in theater works and she came to knew several artists and celebrities. She acted in all parts of India including some jails like Ferozepore where she also got the chance to watch an execution.

In 1959, her husband died and she decided to move to Delhi. She became the director of Natya Academy. In 1962, she moved to London and met Ram Gopal. She performed in the short story, The Rescue of Pluffles by Rudyard Kipling in 1964. She also performed in some episodic of the British show, Doctor Who from 1964-1965. She became an anchor in 26 episodes of Padosi, a television series of BBC. The next two decades, Zohra’s career was intermittent but she still appeared in several films but with small roles only.

She got her first major break in films in London under the Merchant Ivory Productions. She was seen in 1982’s The Courtesans of Bombay under the direction of James Ivory. This leads her to do the role of Lady Chatterjee in the British TV serial, The Jewel in the Crown in 1984. Then she started to do television shows like the Tandoori Nights and films like My Beautiful Laundrette.

Zohra returned to India in 1990s and resides in Burdwan. She performed in various films, television serials and plays. She also went to Pakistan and around India to perform. She was also active in many Hindi movies in 1996 doing grandmother roles. Some of her Bollywood films include Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Dil Se, Saaya, Kal Ho Naa Ho and many more.

She was confined in Max Hospital in South Delhi last July 9, 2014. She had pneumonia but on July 10, 2014, she died with a cardiac arrest. She was cremated in Lodhi Road Crematorium in Delhi but her memories lives forever.

The Sehgal Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)

Sunil Manchanda is a director and producer in the Indian film industry who works mainly in Bollywood films and was born in India. He is an advertisement producer as well. He is the owner and also the managing director or CEO of the company called MAD films which is a television commercial production house and premiere film. This production house started in 1991.

Amitabh Bachchan was born on October 11, 1942 in Allahabad, India. Bachchan's father was a prestigious Hindi poet Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan and his mother, Teji Bachchan, was a Sikh socialite. Being his parents’ first born, he has a junior male sibling resembling to his name Ajitabh. Bachchan went to Sherwood College before enlisting in Delhi University to complete his B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) degree. He became a cargo dealer in Calcutta after completing his graduation. Amitabh Bachchan married to Jaya Bhaduri and has one son named Abhishek and one daughter named Shweta. Bachchan's father passed on in 2003 and his mother in 2007.

In 1969, Bachchan made his film debut in Saat Hindustani a film administered by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas which won him the National Film Award for Best Newcomer. By the early 1970s, Bachchan had collected fame in crowds as the "Angry Young Man" in an arrangement of successful Hindi gimmick movies. His featuring part in Zanjeer was especially instrumental in propelling him to fame as an action-movie film legend. Amitabh didn’t stopped gaining fame and popularity and soon he delivered another successful movie Anand in 1971. Anand was followed by movies like Reshma Aur Shera and Parwana in the same year.

Being family friend with Rajiv Gandhi, he got an opportunity to choose to run for seat in the Congress from the place where he grew up. He challenged Allahabad's seat of eighth Lok Sabha against H. N. Bahuguna, previous Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and won by one of the highest victory margins in history (68.2% of the vote). His political life, on the other hand, was fleeting in view of debates especially after Rajiv and he were embroiled in the now scandalous "Bofors" case alongside the U.K. based Hinduja Brothers.

In 1997, Bachchan endeavored to make his acting comeback with the film Mrityudata, produced by ABCL. However, the film was a disappointment both fiscally and basically. His vocation was spared with a successful film “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998)”. In 2000, Bachchan facilitated the first season of “Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC)”. Likewise in that year Amitabh Bachchan showed up in Yash Chopra's film industry hit “Mohabbatein” directed by Aditya Chopra. Different hits emulated, with Bachchan showing up as a more established family patriarch in Ek Rishtaa: The Bond of Love (2001), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) and Baghban (2003). Bachchan is also well known for his profound, baritone voice. He has been a storyteller, a playback artist, and moderator for various projects.

Despite a couple of film industry disappointments in the 1990s and the 2000s ruined his career yet, Bachchan climbed his way back up to as a topnotch Bollywood actor, gaining Filmfare and International Film Awards for his work on movies like Baghban (2003), Khakee (2004) and Paa (2009). His hard work guaranteed his prosperity and now he is known as the "King of Bollywood".

The Padma Shri award winner who shot to fame with his role in the 1986 blockbuster film ‘Naam’, which told the story of a poor family that struggled to make ends meet, was born on 30th May 1950 in Mumbai. He completed his graduation from Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai. Rawal made his debut in the film industry through the movie ‘Holi’ in the year 1984 but it was his next film, ‘Naam’, which brought him all the fame and attention as an actor. Success followed him, and he acted in over hundred films during 1980s and 1990s. Such was his versatility, that he has done roles from lead actor to Main villain. He did the role of main villain in most of his movies and he was considered as a character actor during those days. 

The 1994 hits ‘Woh Chokri’ and ‘Sir’ won him the national award for best supporting actor and ‘Sir’ won him the Filmfare award for best comedian. He received nationwide recognition as villain through his negative roles in Telugu blockbusters like ‘Kshana Kshanam’, ‘Money’ etc. He was considered as a character actor until his role in the 2000 hit ‘Hera Pheri’ which gave a turn in Paresh Rawal’s career. ‘Hera Pheri’ told the story of a witty Marathi landlord who rents his apartment out to bachelors. He started taking either lead or the main protagonist roles in many of the mainstream Bollywood films that followed. Rawal received wide recognition and appreciation for his role in ‘Hera Pheri’, and his acting in the film was considered as the major contributing factor to the movie’s success. Many comedy numbers followed and Paresh Rawal’s roles in all those movies got the best feedback. 

 He is also a renowned actor in Gujarati drama industry, and his latest play ‘Dear Father’ was a hit. He has also produced several successful TV soaps including ‘Teen Bahuraniyaan’ of ‘Zee TV’. Paresh Rawal is also into politics and won the parliament election from Ahmedabad East constituency to become the Member of Parliament for BJP in 2014. He is married to the 1979 Miss India and actress Swaroop Sampat and has two sons, Aditya and Aniruddh.

Balki (popularity known as R.Balakrishnan), an Indian screenwriter, filmmaker, and Chief Creative Officer of Lowe Lintas (advertising agency) was born in Bangalore, Karnataka. Balakrishnan got married in 2007 to Gauri Shinde film director of highly acclaimed ‘English Vinglish’ (2012).