Fatma Begum
Fatma Begum was an Indian actress, director, producer and screenwriter. She is known as The First Female Film Director in Indian Cinema.
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.
Early life
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.Career
She began her career on the Urdu stage. She later shifted to films and debuted in Ardeshir Irani's silent film, Veer Abhimanyu. 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. The film was a high budget production has been described as a fantasy film featuring many special effects and her daughters Sultana, Zubeida also Shehzadi worked in the film. 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 1937.
She worked in her last film Diamond Queen as Faima in 1940.