Zubeida Begum

Zubeida Begum, (not to be confused with the silent film actress Zubeida, daughter of Nawab Sidi Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan of Sachin by Fatima Begum, film actress/producer) was an Indian film actress. She was natural daughter of Shri Kasembhai Mehta, a Bohra Muslim businessman, by Faiza Bai, a renowned Muslim singer. Though a Muslim by birth, she converted according to Arya Samaj rites at her marriage with Maharaja Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur, on 17th December 1950, at Bombay. From this marriage, she had a son, Rao Raja Hukum Singh born at Bombay on 2nd August 1951. She also had a son from her first marriage, Khalid Mohamed, a film critic, who wrote the screenplay for the film Zubeidaa (2001), directed by Shyam Benegal, loosely based on her life and in which her role was played by Karishma Kapoor. She was killed with her husband in an airplane accident.