A contemporary of Sulochana (Ruby Meyers) and a movie celebrity of the ’30s and early ’40s, Sardar Akhtar remained forgotten and unseen for a good 30 years until the audience of today saw her as the harassed woman in O.P. Ralhan’s, “Hulchul”. To many viewers she was little more than a talented bit player. But to those who could go back 40 years, Sardar Akhtar is little less than an epoch. During the first decade of the talkie, Sardar Akhtar rose to become the most natural dramatic actress of her times.
It was a time of sturdy, masculine heroes — like Sadiq Ali, Jayant and S. Nazir, and plump, sensual, daring heroines — like “Diler” (Fearless) Nadia, Sulochana, Gohar and Sardar Akhtar herself. Above all, it was the high noon of the stunt, adventure, magic and swashbuckling film with pseudo-historical, devotional and period costume dramas running a close second.
Sardar Akhtar too began as a stunt queen. Half of her 30 films were stunt films which will now be described as action films.
She would have continued playing a Persian princess or a daring sword-wielding girl, but for directors like Hiren Bose and Ram Daryani. Through their films, “Piya Ki Jogan” “Pratima” and especially “Sangdil Samaj”, Sardar Akhtar carved for herself a new image.
Never as ravishing as Veena, Naseem or Sulochana, Sardar Akhtar’s rustic looks helped her when cinema began exploring the ethos of the common woman. She was the ‘common woman’, in person and on screen. In those days actresses and actors acted naturally and in the hands of an intelligent director could give performances of a high caliber. Sardar Akhtar was lucky to work with well- known directors of her time.
The man who played a decisive role in her career was Sohrab Modi. A stage veteran and an exponent of period plays, Modi was meticulous in casting artistes according to their looks and personality. Having selected Chandramohan to play Jehangir, Naseem as Noor Jehan and himself to portray Maan Singh, he needed an actress to impersonate the ‘dhoban’ who plays a key role in the development of the dramatic conflict in “Pukar” (1939). And Sardar Akhtar was the most natural choice. Embellished with Kamal Amrohi’s dialogue (which earned the film high praise from literary quarters all over the country), Meeran Saheb’s lilting song compositions rendered by Naseem Bano and Sardar Akhtar themselves and actual locations in Agra and Fatehpur Sikri, “Pukar”, along with Mehboob’s “Ek Hi Raasta”, marked the beginning of the supremacy of Hindustani cinema.
Impressed by her portrayal in “Pukar”, Mehboob, who was beginning his most creative phase, selected Sardar Akhtar to play the most rural of all rural characters of Indian cinema — the Radha of “Aurat” (1940) — the earlier black and white version of “Mother India” (1957). Sardar Akhtar’s portrayal of Radha and Mehboob’s portrayal of the poverty of Indian peasantry both became milestones in the history of Indian cinema. Barring Shanta Apte’s Heera in V. Shantaram’s Marathi classic “Kunku” (1936), there is no female performance till 1940 to rival Sardar Akhtar’s Radha.
“Aurat” established her as a serious dramatic actress. She also revealed a wider range, playing comedy and accepting roles as varied as an unfaithful wife in Sohrab Modi’s “Bharosa” and a dedicated one in “Fashion”, the only genuine Muslim social she ever worked in.
But something else was also happening in her personal life. Mehboob fell in love with her and eventually married her in 1942. After completing “Fashion” and “Masterji”, Sardar Akhtar quit films. The year was 1943.
O. P. Ralhan, who had been her admirer in the early phase of her screen career, approached Sardar Akhtar to play, after 30 years in retirement, an important role in “Hulchul”. He featured her again in “Bandhe Haath”.
It was a time of sturdy, masculine heroes — like Sadiq Ali, Jayant and S. Nazir, and plump, sensual, daring heroines — like “Diler” (Fearless) Nadia, Sulochana, Gohar and Sardar Akhtar herself. Above all, it was the high noon of the stunt, adventure, magic and swashbuckling film with pseudo-historical, devotional and period costume dramas running a close second.
Sardar Akhtar too began as a stunt queen. Half of her 30 films were stunt films which will now be described as action films.
She would have continued playing a Persian princess or a daring sword-wielding girl, but for directors like Hiren Bose and Ram Daryani. Through their films, “Piya Ki Jogan” “Pratima” and especially “Sangdil Samaj”, Sardar Akhtar carved for herself a new image.
Never as ravishing as Veena, Naseem or Sulochana, Sardar Akhtar’s rustic looks helped her when cinema began exploring the ethos of the common woman. She was the ‘common woman’, in person and on screen. In those days actresses and actors acted naturally and in the hands of an intelligent director could give performances of a high caliber. Sardar Akhtar was lucky to work with well- known directors of her time.
The man who played a decisive role in her career was Sohrab Modi. A stage veteran and an exponent of period plays, Modi was meticulous in casting artistes according to their looks and personality. Having selected Chandramohan to play Jehangir, Naseem as Noor Jehan and himself to portray Maan Singh, he needed an actress to impersonate the ‘dhoban’ who plays a key role in the development of the dramatic conflict in “Pukar” (1939). And Sardar Akhtar was the most natural choice. Embellished with Kamal Amrohi’s dialogue (which earned the film high praise from literary quarters all over the country), Meeran Saheb’s lilting song compositions rendered by Naseem Bano and Sardar Akhtar themselves and actual locations in Agra and Fatehpur Sikri, “Pukar”, along with Mehboob’s “Ek Hi Raasta”, marked the beginning of the supremacy of Hindustani cinema.
Impressed by her portrayal in “Pukar”, Mehboob, who was beginning his most creative phase, selected Sardar Akhtar to play the most rural of all rural characters of Indian cinema — the Radha of “Aurat” (1940) — the earlier black and white version of “Mother India” (1957). Sardar Akhtar’s portrayal of Radha and Mehboob’s portrayal of the poverty of Indian peasantry both became milestones in the history of Indian cinema. Barring Shanta Apte’s Heera in V. Shantaram’s Marathi classic “Kunku” (1936), there is no female performance till 1940 to rival Sardar Akhtar’s Radha.
But something else was also happening in her personal life. Mehboob fell in love with her and eventually married her in 1942. After completing “Fashion” and “Masterji”, Sardar Akhtar quit films. The year was 1943.
O. P. Ralhan, who had been her admirer in the early phase of her screen career, approached Sardar Akhtar to play, after 30 years in retirement, an important role in “Hulchul”. He featured her again in “Bandhe Haath”.
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