Begum Para – Bollywood’s glamour girl of 1950s

Begum Para (1926-2008) was a glamorous actress of Bollywood most active in the era of 1940s and 1950s. With her glamour quotient she portrayed many vamp roles with ease, breaking many stereotypes. Kismet Ka Khel, Suhaag Raat, Neel Kamal, Soni Mahwal etc are some of her major works of 1940s and 1950s. She was best known for her bold glamour statement than acting roles in an era when she was working. Her photo shoot for Life Magazine in 1951 was quite bold when it was done by James Burke. She appeared in a hot avatar dressing in front of the mirror for the photo shoot. She was married to actor Dilp Kumar’s younger brother Nasir Khan, best known for supporting roles. Their son Ayub Khan is also a Hindi actor, best known for his works in television.

Her birth name is Para Haq in Jehlum, and she was born into a Muslim family in Aligarh. Her father, Mian Ehsanul-Haq was a judge who later worked with judicial service of the princely state of Bikaner, and a cricketer. Begum was so ahead of her time. At a time when girls from reputed Muslim families were not allowed to work in theatre or films, Para was a rebel who headed to movie world in the 1940s. 1944 Prabhat production, Chaand was her first film with Prem Adib playing her lead. She excelled on screen playing vamp roles.

Begum Para – Interesting facts

1. She lived her life in her terms and had millions of fans. In the 1950s American GIs in Korea used to stick her cover picture  of Life Magazine in their bunkers.

2. Socialite Rukhsana Sultana, best known for her political association with Sanjay Gandhi during 1970s was her niece.

3. Bollywood actress Amrita Singh is her great-niece and thus she is related to royal Pataudi family belonging to Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Sharmila Tagore, Saif Ali Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Sara Ali Khan etc.

4. Her sister-in-law Protima Dasgupta (wife of Madsrurul Haq) has worked in a few Bengali movies. Her elder brother had gone to Mumbai with dreams to become an actor.

5. Her daughter-in-law Niharika Khan and her brother Arjun Bhasin are acclaimed costume designers.

6. She never smoked throughout her life, but loved whiskey, which was then considered taboo to Indian girls.

7. She was offered Nigar Sultana’s role ‘Bahar’ in the iconic film Mughal-e-Azam, co-staring her brother-in-law. But she refused the role stating that it was against her image.

8. She lost her husband in 1974 and briefly lived in Pakistan for a while after that. Then she returned back to India.

9. After her work in Kar Bhala in 1956 she took a break from acting.

10. After a break of long 50 years she returned to silver screen with Saawariya in 2007 playing Sonam Kapoor’s grandmother. Interestingly it was her last film. She passed away the following year.