Zohra Sehgal uncut: Of love, acting & Bloody Mary

UNSTOPPABLE: At 96, Zohra Sehgal is one of the busiest actors in the country today.

        

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Maharaj or Dada, Ganguly's legacy lives on

Featured Slideshows

Anuradha SenGupta: Like most things in her life her marriage was unconventional. At 30 she married the gifted artist Kameshwar Sehgal, who was one of her student and eight years junior to her but she lost him early.

Zohra Sehgal He was a wonderful artist. I used to think if he goes abroad he'll do wonders. I fell in love with his paintings and his art.

Anuradha SenGupta: So that's how you fell in love with him?

Zohra Sehgal Yes, and even he fell in love with me. Like I said earlier, in youth even a female donkey also looks beautiful. And of course I was the infamous Zohra Mumtaz who had had such a free life.

Anuradha SenGupta: You lost him very early?

Zohra Sehgal I lost my husband on May 12, 1949, 49 years ago. He committed suicide.

Anuradha SenGupta: Do you still wonder why?

Zohra Sehgal Married to a woman like me, who wouldn't commit suicide. No I mean, like I was telling you earlier he was so talented, he was a scientist, painter and dancer. Then he took to films — he was a film director, art director. I would say he was ahead of his time. He never had the success that he should've got. Gradually he took to drinking and ruined himself and finished himself.

Anuradha SenGupta: Do you remember all that very clearly?

Zohra Sehgal I would say he has given me the most beautiful present by committing suicide. Kashmiri women hang kangris inside their dresses to keep themselves warm. A kangri is a basket in which one keeps coal to protect themselves from the cold. His death is like that inside me. Whenever I'm doing a tragic role, I just have to flick off the ashes. So what can be a better gift than this? And when it comes to comedy, I'm lucky I have a spring of humour and happiness inside me and I can see the lighter side of life.