Fatima Begum

Fatima Begum was India’s very first female movie director and one of the early stars of Indian cinema. She was brought up in an Urdu Muslim family and was married to Sachin State's last ruler, Nawab Sidi Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan III. However, there is no proof or record of her marriage. She had three children, namely Zubeida, Sultana, and Shehzadi. Additionally, She was the grandmother of Jamila Razzaq, daughter of Sultana and Seth Razaaq, and Durreshahwar Dhanrajgir and Humayun Dhanrajgir, daughter, and son of Zubeida and Maharaja Narsingir Dhanrajgir.

Begum began her career on Urdu stage but later shifted to films. She did her debut in the silent film, Veer Abhimanyu, released in 1922 and directed by Ardeshir Irani Khan Bahadur Ardeshir Irani, popularly known as Ar >> Read More... . In 1926, she established Fatima Films, which in 1928 changed to Victoria-Fatima Films. The first film which she directed Bulbul-e-Paristan in 1926 made her the first female director of Indian Cinema. She continued acting till 1938 and was last seen in the movie Duniya Kya Hai?.

Fatima died at the age of ninety-one years in 1938, but her legacy was taken forward by her daughter, Zubeida, who appeared in India’s first talkie, Alam Ara and was even a silent film star.