Begum Para was an Indian Hindi film actress from the films of 1940s and 1950s. Her last film was Sanjay Leela Bhansali"s "Saawariya" (2007), which she did after 50 years of her retirement from films. During 1950s, Begum Para was the glamour girl of Bollywood. "Life" magazine made a special session of Begum Para with some fine photographs of her.
Early Life of Begum Para
Begum Para was born on 25th December 1926 in Punjab of British era. Her father was Mian Ehsanul-Haq, who was a judge. Begum spent her entire childhood in Bikaner. She did her graduation from Aligarh Muslim University. Begum"s brother came to Mumbai in the year 1930 to become an actor. There he married a Bengali actress Protima Dasgupta. Begum also came to Mumbai to meet her brother and sister-in-law and there she started to attend many occasions and get-togethers with them. There she was spotted by many and offered several roles. One such offer came from Sashadhar Mukherjee and Devika Rani.
Career of Begum Para
Begum Para"s debutant role was in the film "Chand" in 1944 opposite Prem Adib. The film got immensely praised and she became a highly paid actress since then. Then, she and her sister-in-law Protima made a film called "Chamia" (1945) based on the novel "Pygmalion", which again was a huge success. After this film, she signed many films like "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 and many more. She also worked in another film named "Ustad Pedro" in the year 1951, which was produced and directed by Sheikh Mukhtar. This comedy film was packed with action, romance and stunts. In the year 1951she posed for photographer James Burke for "Life" magazine"s photo shoot. She was also offered to play Nigar Sultana"s role `Bahar` in "Mughal-e-Azam" (1960), which she refused to play because she considered it against her image. She made a comeback on the silver screen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali`s "Saawariya" in 2007 as Sonam Kapoor`s grandmother. Begum Para was mostly offered the roles of glamour dolls in films.
Filmography of Begum Para
The films, which Begum Para worked in, are as follow:
| Year | Films |
| 2007 | Saawariya |
| 1956 | Kar Bala |
| 1955 | Kismet Ka Khel |
| 1955 | Pehli Janak |
| 1955 | Shahzada |
| 1953 | Laila Majnu |
| 1953 | Naya Ghar |
| 1952 | Baghdad |
| 1950 | Pagle |
| 1950 | Meharbani |
| 1948 | Jharna |
| 1948 | Shahnaz |
| 1948 | Suhaag Raat |
| 1947 | Mehandi |
| 1947 | Neel Kamal |
| 1947 | Zanjeer |
| 1947 | The Chain |
| 1946 | Sohni Mahiwal |
| 1944 | Chand |