#GoldenFrames: Naseem Banu - First female superstar of Bollywood

Naseem Banu, mother of actress Saira Banu and mother-in-law to Dilip Kumar, was popularly known as the first female superstar of Indian cinema. The actress had worked with most of the top stars during 1930s-50s like Sohrab Modi, Prithviraj Kapoor, Shyam, Surendra, Ashok Kumar among others. It is said that she had gone on a hunger strike when her mother refused to let her act in movies. Naseem was noted for her large expressive eyes, chiseled features more than her developing acting skills. In the 1930’s, she worked in known films like 'Khan Bahadur' (1937), 'Meetha Zahar' (1938), 'Talaq' (1938) etc. 'Khan Bahadur' (1937) holds an important place in Indian cinema for introducing the first Muslim social, while in 'Talaq' (1938), Naseem played an unusual role—a wife who divorces her husband. Going against the family or husband was considered a huge taboo those days. Later on in her career, she went on to star in films like 'Chal Chal Re Naujawan' (1944), 'Sheesh Mahal', 'Shabistan' (1951) among others. For more news and updates, stay tuned to ETimes.