Birthday Wishes to Farida Zalal

Farida Zalal (Born: 14 March 1949) of ‘dil wale dulhaniya le jayenge’ fame has acted in over 200 Bollywood films.

She was born in New Delhi, started her career in the 1960s, when she won the United Film Producers Talent Hunt sponsored by Filmfare. She, along with Rajesh Khanna, was chosen as finalist and was presented on stage as winner at the Filmfare Awards function. She got her first film offer for Taqdeer from Tarachand Barjatya who happened to be in the audience.

Farida Jalal though could not get a major break as heroine against any big star except Rajesh Khanna in Aaradhana, but she played the lead role in Jeevan Rekha in which her husband Tabrez was the hero. Pran and Ajit were also in the film. A song of the film 'Yaar mere, meri baahon me aaja' by Mohammed Rafi from this film had become popular, and is still popular.

She met her husband on the sets of Jeevan Rekha and fell in love in the course of the film and got married in November 1978. As she wasn’t getting too many film offers after marriage, they moved to Bangalore where her husband had a soap factory business. She has acted for over 40 years, only taking a break during 1983 and 1990, when she settled in Bangalore.

Jalal starred in Shararat (Thoda Jadu, Thodi Nazaakat), in which she played a leading role. The comedy is currently air on the Disney Channel.

She usually played the sister or rejected fiancée of the male lead but almost never the female lead. One of her most critically acclaimed roles is in Bobby where she played the part of the mentally challenged would-be fiancée of Rishi Kapoor. During the 1980s, her roles progressed from sister and girlfriend to aunt, mother, or nani. She is also remembered for her part in Aradhana, in which she plays Rajesh Khanna's girlfriend, and sings the song "Bagon me bahar hai, kaliyon pe nikhar hai".

During the 1990s, Jalal had a part in many major hits in India, among them Raja Hindustani, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil To Pagal Hai, Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, for which she won a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1995. Farida Jalal played the lead in film Mammo. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. Jalal won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance. Apart from films, she also appeared in smaller screens, which started with Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi in 1984, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Shararat, etc. Some of her recent TV shows include Satrangi Sasural and The Great Maratha

She was grandly acclaimed for her role in the 1994 film Mammo, for which she received the Filmfare Best Performance Award. Earlier she was also nominated for 'Best Supporting Actress Award' for Amitabh Bachchan-Parveen Babi-Pran starrer 'Majboor' where she played Amitabh's handicapped sister.

In 2005, she co-hosted the 50th Filmfare Awards alongside Saif Ali Khan and Sonali Bendre, in Mumbai. In 2008, she made a special appearance in the Punjabi film Yaariyan. Recently, she appeared in the soap opera Balika Vadhu.