Trivia

Daughter of Fatma Begum

Sister of Sultana and Shahzadi.

Her grand daughter was Jyotika Sabrina Dhanrajgir. Jyotika was the ex fiance of superstar Feroz Khan.

Zubeida married Maharaj Narsingir Dhanrajgir Gyan Bahadur of Hyderabad. She was the mother of Humayun Dhanrajgir and Dhurreshwar Dhanrajgir. Dhurreshwar is the mother of model Rhea Pillai.

Zubeida was one of the few actresses to make a successful transition from the silent era to the talkies.

Through the 1920s she made infrequent appearances on screen along with Sultana who, by then, had become one of Indian cinema's loveliest leading ladies.

She was also successful in portraying emotions with films such as Ezra Mir's Zarina which had her playing a vibrant, volatile circus girl whose kisses steamed up the screen and sparked off heated debate on censorship.

Zubeida starred in a string of silent films before Alam Ara proved to be the turning point in her career and was her biggest hit. She suddenly was highly in demand and got wages high above the standards for a woman in the film industry at that time.

In 1934 she set up Mahalakshmi Movietone with Nanubhai Vakil and had box-office bonanzas in Gul-e-Sonobar and Rasik-e-Laila.

She continued to appear in one or two films a year till 1949. Nirdosh Abla was her last film.

Through the '30s and early '40s she made a hit team with Jal Merchant and starred in several successful historical epic films playing characters like Subhadra, Uttara and Draupadi.

Zubeida was the daughter of Nawab Sidi Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan III of Sachin State and Fatima Begum.

She starred in the first Indian talkie movie Alam Ara (1931).

1927 was memorable for her with movies Laila Majnu, Nanand Bhojai and Naval Gandhi's Sacrifice which were very successful movies at this time. The latter, based on Rabindranath Tagore's 'Balidan', also starred Sulochana Devi, Master Vithal and Jal Khambatta. It condemned the age-old custom of animal sacrifice in certain Kali temples in Bengal. The Members of the Indian Cinematograph Committee were wowed by this "excellent and truly Indian film". Its European members recommended that it be sent abroad for screening.

She was among the few girls who entered films at a tender age during a time when it was not considered an appropriate profession for girls from respectable families.