Mehtab (1913–1997) was an Indian actress of

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

films who worked from 1928 to 1969.

Early life

She was born in

Sachin, Gujarat Sachin is a locality in the Surat Metropolitan Region in the Indian state of Gujarat. The town has a large industrial area managed by Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), SurSEZ (Surat Special Economic Zone), Diamond SEZ and many ...

, to a Muslim family and named Najma. Her father, Nawab Sidi Ibrahim Mohammad Yakut Khan III, was the Nawab of Sachin, near

Surat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

in the state of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

. Starting her career in the late 1920s with small roles in films like ''Second Wife'' (1928), ''Indira B. A.'' (1929) and ''Jayant'' (1929), she went on to do character roles before acting in the lead opposite Ashraf Khan in ''Veer Kunal'' (1932). After almost a decade of doing mainly action-oriented roles, she came into prominence with the Kidar Sharma-directed '' Chitralekha'' (1941). She married her early co-star Ashraf Khan with whom she had a son. They divorced later and she married

Sohrab Modi Sohrab Merwanji Modi (2 November 1897 – 28 January 1984) was an Indian stage and film actor, director and producer. His films include ''Khoon Ka Khoon'' (1935), a version of Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'', ''Sikandar (1941 film), Sikandar'', '' ...

in 1946. Modi cast her in the historical drama ''

Jhansi Ki Rani The Rani of Jhansi (born Manikarnika Tambe; 1828 or 1835 – 18 June 1858), also known as Rani Lakshmibai, was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The queen consort of the princely state of Jhansi from 1843 to 1853, s ...

'' (1953), which in spite of having spectacular scenes and lavish sets could not work well at the box office. She stopped acting in films following 1953 except to act in her last role as a character artist in Modi's '' Samay Bada Balwan'' (1969). She died in Mumbai on 10 April 1997.

Career

Mehtab acted in her early feature film ''Kamaal-e-Shamsheer'' (1930) with W. M. Khan, which was produced by her mother under Excelsior film company. Her other films at this time include ''Hamara Hindustan'' (1930), a silent film which starred

Ruby Myers Ruby Myers (1907 – 10 October 1983), better known by her stage name Sulochana, was an Indian silent film actress of Jewish descent, from the community of Baghdadi Jews in India. In her heyday she was one of the highest paid actresses of he ...

, Jal Merchant and Mazhar Khan. She went on to act in several films mainly in action roles produced by the Sharda Film Company under different directors. Finally in 1932, she acted under the banner of Indian Art Productions as the main female lead in ''Veer Kunal'', opposite Ashraf Khan, an actor she was to marry and then divorce. She continued to work under different banners including

Chandulal Shah Chandulal Jesangbhai Shah (13 April 1898 – 25 November 1975) was a famous director, producer and screenwriter of Indian films, who founded Ranjit Studios in 1929. Early life Shah was born in 1898 in Jamnagar, Gujarat, British India. He st ...

for

Ranjit Movietone Ranjit Studios, also known as Ranjit Movietone, was an Indian film production company with studio facilities located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It produced films between 1929 and mid-1970s. The studio was founded by Chandulal Shah along wi ...

in ''Bhola Shika'' (1933), directed by

Jayant Desai Jayant Desai (born Jayantilal Jhinabhai Desai, 28 February 1909 – 19 April 1976) was an Indian film director and producer. After graduating from the University of Bombay Desai joined Ranjit Studios in 1929 where he directed numerous films incl ...

, with E. Billimoria as hero, and ''Ranchandi'' directed by Babubhai Jani opposite Navin Chandra. She also acted in a couple of films directed by

Jaddanbai Jaddanbai Hussain (1 April 1892 – 8 April 1949; known professionally as Jaddanbai) was an Indian singer, music composer, dancer, actress, filmmaker, and one of the pioneers of Indian cinema. She along with Bibbo and Saraswati Devi were one ...

like ''Moti Ka Haar'' and ''Jeevan Swapna'', both in 1937. Following the birth of her son, and subsequent divorce from Ashraf Khan, Mehtab acted in the Film Corporation of India film '' Qaidi'' (1940), which had Ramola, Madhuri, Wasti and Nandrekar co-starring along with her. She got a chance in the film Chitralekha (1941). ''Chitralekha'' was also the debut of actor

Bharat Bhushan Bharatbhushan Gupta, better known as Bharat Bhushan (14 June 1920 – 27 January 1992) was an Indian actor in Hindi language films, scriptwriter and producer. He was born in Meerut, and brought up in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. Career 1941– ...

, though in a small role. Mehtab was cast in '' Sharda'' (1942), along with Wasti, Ulhas and Nirmala Devi by A. R. Kardar for his Kardar Productions. The film is famous for the thirteen-year-old

Suraiya Suraiya Jamal Sheikh (15 June 1929 – 31 January 2004), mononymously known as Suraiya, was an Indian actress and playback singer who worked in Hindi films. She is regarded as one of the greatest and finest actresses in the history of Indian c ...

, who became famous giving playback singing for a much older Mehtab. 1943 saw her acting in two more Kardar directed films; ''

Kanoon ''Kanoon'' () is a 1960 Indian Hindi-language courtroom drama film directed by B. R. Chopra. The film stars Rajendra Kumar, Nanda, Ashok Kumar, Mehmood, Shashikala, Jeevan and Om Prakash. The film presents a case against capital punishment ...

'' with

Shahu Modak Shahu Modak (25 April 1918 – 11 May 1993) was an Indian actor who acted in many Hindi as well as Marathi movies. Shahu Modak was mostly famous for the mythological characters that he played. He mostly played the roles of Krishna, and Jñāne� ...

Nirmala Devi Nirmala Devi (7 June 1927 15 June 1996) also known as Dulari, was an Indian actress in the 1940s and a Hindustani classical vocalist of the Patiala Gharana. Bollywood actor Govinda is her son. In January 2025, Nirmala Devi was honored with ...

and Jagirdar and '' Sanjog'' a comedy film opposite

Noor Mohammed Charlie Noor Mohammed Charlie (，1 July 1911 – 30 June 1983), popularly known as Charlie, was an Indian/ Pakistani actor born in 1911 in Ranavav village, Porbandar, Saurashtra, British India. Best known for his comedy roles, he was the first 'star' ...

, Wasti and Ulhas. The same year she did a Wadia Productions film directed by

Homi Wadia Homi Wadia (22 May 1911 – 10 December 2004) was an Indian film director and producer in Bollywood (Hindi cinema). He was the co-founder of Wadia Movietone productions, established in 1933 and later after the closure of Wadiatone, he founded Ba ...

, '' Vishwas'' (1943), which also starred

Surendra Surendra is an Indian masculine given name. Notable people with this name include: * Surendra (actor), Indian singer and actor * Surendra Bhave * Surendra Chaturvedi * Surendra Dubey * Surendra Gambhir * Surendra Hiranandani * Surendra Jain * ...

, and

Trilok Kapoor Trilok Kapoor (11 February 1912 23 September 1988) was an Indian actor and a member of the Kapoor family who worked in Bollywood films. He was the younger brother of actor Prithviraj Kapoor. Early and personal life Born in the Kapoor Haveli i ...

, with composer Firoz Nizami debuting as the music director. In 1944, Sohrab Modi cast Mehtab in the Central Studio production '' Parakh''. Mehtab recalled in an interview that it was while shooting for this film that the two had grown closer. Modi did not act in the film which starred Mehtab with Yakub and Balwant Singh. ''Parakh'' had music by Khursheed Anwar and Saraswati Devi. Mehtab acted in films like ''Ismat'' (1944), ''Ek Din Ka Sultan'' (1945), ''Saathi'' (1946) and ''Shama'' (1946). In 1953, Modi produced, directed and acted in ''Jhansi Ki Rani'', which starred a now ageing Mehtab as the young

. The film was a big financial disaster and the last starring role of Mehtab. Mehtab acted in Modi's ''Samay Bada Balwan'' (1969) in a character role.

Personal life

Mehtab a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, married Sohrab Modi, a

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

, on 28 April 1946, her birthday. According to Mehtab, the marriage was not approved of by Modi's family. This was Mehtab's second marriage and she had an eight-year-old son Ismail, from the previous marriage to her first co-star Ashraf Khan. Her condition for marrying Modi was that her son, Ismail, stay with them. Modi talked the situation over with her ex-husband, regarding Ismail, who then lived with Mehtab and Modi following their marriage. Modi was twenty years older at 46 years and had just finished his relationship with

Naseem Banu Naseem Banu (4 July 1916 – 18 June 2002) was an Indian actress. Starting her acting career in the mid-1930s she continued to act till mid-1950s. Her first film was '' Khoon Ka Khoon'' (Hamlet) (1935) with Sohrab Modi under whose Minerva Mo ...

. Mehtab and Modi had one child together called Mehelli, who they brought up as a Parsi. Sohrab Modi died on 28 January 1984, at the age of 85 years. Mehtab died on 10 April 1997 in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

and was buried at the Bada Qabrastan,

Marine Lines Marine Lines is a locality in South Mumbai. The name ''Marine Lines'' is derived from the Marine Battalion Lines, a military establishment built by the British in the 19th century. The battalion was later converted to an air force residential ...

, Mumbai.

Awards

Mehtab received the Best Actress award in a Hindi film for ''Parakh'' at the 8th Annual BFJA Awards.

Filmography

* Second Wife (1928) * Jayant (1929) * Indira B. A. (1929) * Kamaal-e-Shamsheer (1930) * Hamara Hindustan (1930) * Prithviraj (1931) * Virni Vibhuti (1931) * Diwano (1931) * Husn Pari (1931) * Shooro Sainik (1931) * Jange Davlat (1931) * Shaliwahan (1931) * Khubsoorat Khawasan (1932) * Veer Kunal (1932) * Bhola Shikar (1933) * Krishna Sudama (1933) * Miss 1933 (1933) * Pardesi Preetam (1933) * Ranchandi (1933) * Cinema Queen (1934) * Prem Pariksha (1934) * Veer Pujan (1934) * Laheri Jawan (1935) * Magic Horse (1935) * Stree Dharma (1935) * Taqdeer (1935) * Bholi Bhikharan (1936) * Moti Ka Haar (1937) * Jeevan Swapna (1937) * Devbala (1938) * Baghi (1939) *

Leatherface Leatherface is a character from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (franchise), ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' series. He first appeared in ''The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'' (1974) as the mentally disabled member of a family of deranged Human cannibalis ...

(1939) *

Ek Hi Bhool ''Ek Hi Bhool'' () is a 1981 Indian Hindi-language drama film, produced by A. Purnachandra Rao under the Lakshmi Productions banner and directed by T. Rama Rao. The film stars Jeetendra and Rekha, with music composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal. I ...

(1940) * Qaidi (1940) * Chitralekha (1941) * Masoom (1941) * Bhakta Kabir (1942) * Chaurangee (1942) * Sharda (1942) *

(1943) * Sanjog (1943) * Vishwas (1943) * Bahar (1944) *

Jeevan Jeevan is an Indian sub-continent first name meaning "life" or "bringer of life," which may be used by males or females. The name originates from the Sanskrit language but is more often used as a Nepalese language name, a Sikh or a Hindu name. Alt ...

(1944) * Ismat (1944) * Parakh (1944) * Ek Din Ka Sultan (1945) *

Behram Khan ''Behram Khan'' (also spelt ''Bairam Khan'' or ''Bayram Khan'') is a Bollywood film. It was released in 1946. Details The story of the movie, about the Mughal army commander Bairam Khan, was written by famed poet and writer Hakim Ahmad Shuj ...

(1946) * Sathi (1946) * Shama (1946) *

(1953) * Samay Bada Balwan (1969)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mehtab 1913 births 1997 deaths Actresses in Hindi cinema Indian film actresses 20th-century Indian actresses Actresses from Gujarat People from Surat district Actresses in Urdu cinema Indian silent film actresses