Zohra!

Zohra Segal (1912 to 2014) lived through a whole century of Indian performing arts, and Ritu Menon's biography follows her remarkable path. Born into a family connected to the nawabs of Rampur, Zohra Mumtazullah Khan chose adventure over convention at eighteen, when she travelled to Germany to study modern dance. She went on defying expectations for the rest of her life and took part in several groundbreaking ventures in the arts.

In 1935 the dancer Uday Shankar recruited her, and she toured the world with his troupe. In 1943 she opened an unusual dance school in Lahore with her husband Kameshwar, who was eight years younger. Two years later, in Bombay, she joined Prithvi Theatres, founded by Prithviraj Kapoor, and travelled the country with plays that carried a social message. That period took in the upheaval of Partition, the idealism that followed Independence, and the tragedy of Kameshwar's suicide.

In 1962 Zohra went to London on a drama scholarship and stayed for 25 years, joining the small group of Asian performers who changed the face of British theatre. Roles in television series and films such as Doctor Who and Bhaji on the Beach followed naturally. Back in India, long after she turned eighty, Bollywood came calling. As the unconventional grandmother, charming one moment and crusty the next, she became a star unlike any before or since.