| Fatma Begum | |
| Birth Name: | Fatma Bai |
| Birth Date: | 1892 |
| Birth Place: | Gujarat, Surat district, British Raj, British India |
| Death Place: | Gujarat, India |
| Alias: | First female film director of Indian Cinema |
| Years Active: | 1922–1940 |
| Spouse: | Nawab Sidi Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan III (allegedly) |
| Children: | 3, including Zubeida and Sultana |
| Relatives: | Jamila Razzaq (granddaughter) Rhea Pillai (great-granddaughter) |
Fatma Begum (1892–1983) was an Indian actress, director, producer and screenwriter. She was the first female film director of Indian cinema.[1] [2] Within four years, she went on to write, produce and direct many films. She launched her own production house, Fatma Films, which later became Victoria-Fatma Films, and directed her first film, Bulbul-e-Paristan, in 1926.[3] [4]
Fatma Begum was born into an Urdu-speaking Muslim family in India and came from a background in the Urdu language theater, her family of Muslim background having spoken that tongue. She was trained in theater and mostly acted in Urdu and Hindi plays.
She began her career on the Urdu stage. She later shifted to films and debuted in Ardeshir Irani's silent film, Veer Abhimanyu (1922). It was common practice for men to play women in plays and movies, so she became a huge woman superstar. Fatma Begum was fair skinned and wore dark make-up that suited the sepia/black & white images on the screen. Most of the roles required wigs for the heroes as well as the heroines.
In 1926, she established Fatma Films which later became known as Victoria-Fatima Films in 1928. She became a pioneer for fantasy cinema where she used trick photography to have early special effects. She was an actress at Kohinoor Studios and Imperial Studios, while writing, directing, producing, and acting in her own films at Fatma Films.
Begum became the first female director of Indian cinema with her 1926 film, Bulbul-e-Paristan.[5] While no known prints of the film currently exist, the high budget production has been described as a fantasy film featuring many special effects. If true, the film places Begum among early pioneers of fantasy cinema such as George Melies. She directed many other films, her last being the Goddess of Luck in 1929. While continuing to produce and appear in her own work, Fatma worked for Kohinoor Studios and Imperial Studios in the film Duniya Kya Hai? in 1938.
She worked in her last film Diamond Queen as Faima in 1940.
She was supposedly married to Nawab Sidi Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan III of Sachin State.[6] However, there is no record of a marriage or contract having taken place between the Nawab and Fatma or of the Nawab having recognised any of her children as his own, a prerequisite for legal paternity in Muslim family law. She was the mother of silent superstars Zubeida, Sultana and Shahzadi. She was also the grandmother of Humayun Dhanrajgir and Durreshahwar Dhanrajgir, son and daughter of Zubeida and Maharaja Narsingir Dhanrajgir of Hyderabad and Jamila Razzaq daughter of Sultana and Seth Razaaq, a prominent businessman of Karachi. She also happened to be the great-grandmother of model turned actress Rhea Pillai who is the daughter of her grand daughter Durreshahwar Dhanrajgir.[7]
She died in 1983 at the age of 91.[8]
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1922 | Veer Abhimanyu | Subhadra | Debuted in Ardeshir Irani's silent film |
| 1924 | Prithvi Vallabh | Mrinalwati | Silent film |
| Kala Naag | Silent film | ||
| Sati Sardarba | Silent film | ||
| Gul-e-Bakavali | Silent film | ||
| Raja Harishchandra | Silent film | ||
| 1925 | Social Pirates | Mohini | Silent film |
| Nahar Singh | Silent film | ||
| Gaud Bangal | Silent film | ||
| Devdasi | Based on Novel | ||
| Naharsingh Daku | Silent film | ||
| The Magician of Bengal | Silent film | ||
| 1926 | Indrajal | Silent film | |
| Khubsurat Bala | Actress | Silent film | |
| Bulbul-e-Paristan | Actress | First female director of Indian cinema | |
| Swarga Kankan | Silent film | ||
| 1927 | Mumbai Ni Biladi | Silent film | |
| Kul Dipak | Silent film | ||
| 1928 | Rup Basant | Silent film | |
| 1929 | Maha Sunder | Silent film | |
| Mahasundar | Silent film | ||
| Nasib Ni Devi | Silent film | ||
| 1930 | Am Rande Der Sahara | Silent film | |
| Zalim Zulekha | Zulekha | Silent film |
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | Discarded Love | Actress | |
| 1933 | Satan's Victim | Actress | |
| 1934 | Seva Sadan | Actress | |
| Sant Tulsidas | Actress | ||
| Neki Ka Taj | Actress | Starred with Noor Jehan | |
| 1938 | Duniya Kya Hai? | Actress | |
| 1939 | Romancero Marroquí | Actress | |
| 1940 | Jai Swadesh | Actress | |
| Diamond Queen | Faima |
| Year | Film | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 | Bulbul-e-Paristan | Writer | Screenplay | |
| 1928 | Heer Ranjha | Writer | Screenplay | |
| 1929 | Wonderful Prince | Writer | Screenplay |
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 | Bulbul-e-Paristan | Director | First female director of Indian cinema; Used own production house 'Fatma Films' |
| 1927 | Goddess of Love | Director | |
| 1928 | Chandravali | Director | |
| Heer Ranjha | Director | Director and writer | |
| 1929 | Goddess of Luck | Director | Director |
| Kanakatara | Director | ||
| Milan Dinar | Director | ||
| Shakuntala | Director | ||
| Kanak Tara | Director | ||
| Nasib Ni Devi | Director | She also acted in the film |
Her legacy was carried on by her daughters Sultana, Shahzadi and Zubeida acted in India's first ever talkie, Alam Ara, in addition to being a silent film star.