How the Zohra Segal Festival of Arts celebrates the artist’s unconventional choices

Zohra Segal during a poetry recital at Sangeet Natak Academy Festival in New Delhi on August 28, 2005. Photo credit: SUDERSHAN V

Zohra Segal (1912-2014) wore many hats with élan and lived life on her own terms. Born Sahebzadi Zohra Begum Mumtaz-ullah Khan to a noble Muslim family in Saharanpur, Zohra broke the glass ceiling at a time when it was unknown for women to defy the rules and make choices.

Since his death, his Odyssey dancer-daughter Kiran Segal has been organizing an annual tribute event dedicated to the art form. “I launched the festival in 2016. Art was what defined him. So the memorial program is dedicated to her passion for acting and dance,” said Kiran. The Zohra Segal Trust, in collaboration with the India International Centre, supported by the Raja Foundation, is presenting its annual Zohra Segal Festival of Arts at IIC, Delhi this weekend.

Like previous editions, this year’s line-up is unusual. The festival begins with Fado, the Portuguese-inspired music adopted by Goans. It is a combination of music and poetry. Fado was added to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2011. Meaning ‘fate’ or ‘fate’ in Portuguese, fado has a melancholy feel and its singers have traditionally never been invited to perform. At the festival, Shrushi and Swara Prabhudesai will be accompanied by guitarists Franz Schubert Kota and Sherwin Correa.

Kiran with mother Zohra Photo Credit: Courtesy: Kieran Segal

The second day explores the journey of the Maharashtrian folk dance Labani, its evolution from the 1800s and its traditional storytelling format. It will be presented by Kali Billy Productions, Savitri Medhatul and will feature three dancers. Zohra Segal spent several years in Mumbai as a dance director at Prithvi Theatre, so it is fitting to focus on a Maharashtrian dance. Apparently, when she and her husband Kameshwar had to leave Lahore due to unrest in the 1940s, they moved to Bombay and Johra approached the Prithvi Theater for a job, as her sister Ujra Butt worked there. Apparently Prithviraj Kapoor said that there was no work befitting his stature in the acting arena but since he was a trained dancer he was asked to head the dance department. Kiran shares, “Back then they were called dance directors, not choreographers”.

Zohra and Kameshwar – A Life in Art Photo Credit: Courtesy: Kieran Segal

Previous editions of the Zohra Segal Festival of Arts have included theatre, qawwali, dastangai and dance in different languages. A performance by Bengali ‘Dhak’ artists was well received.

The launch of the festival reflects Zohra’s ability to draw attention to unknown aspects of art and lend them visibility. “He loved all the attention he got,” laughs Kiran.

Poetry was another field in which Johra excelled; His recitals were always memorable. However, what many don’t know about Zohra is that she spent more than two decades in London, where she made waves in British television and films. When he returned to India in 1987, to his daughter Kiran in Delhi, he focused more on Hindi films, acting until his death in 2014.

According to Kiran, “My mother considered herself a citizen of the world. She did her schooling at Queen Mary in Lahore, went to Germany to study under dance pioneer Mary Wiegmann, stayed briefly in Almora and was associated with Uday Shankar’s troupe. After marriage in Lahore she had to move to Mumbai.

The Zohra Segal Festival of the Arts is ticketless, and entirely supported by donations from well-wishers.