Veena

Birthday: 1924-07-04
Deathday: 2004-11-14
Birthplace: Quetta, Baluchistan Agency, Pakistan
Gender: Female
Owned By: Unowned

Veena (4 July 1926 – 14 November 2004), also known as Veena Kumari, real name Tajour Sultana, was an Indian actress.

Veena was born as Tajour Sultana on 4 July 1926 in Quetta, Baluchistan, Pakistani. At some point of time, her family shifted to Lahore and she belonged to Lahore's Chuna Mandi.[1] She married actor-hero Al Nasir in 1947 and had two children.

She started out playing heroine roles in pre-partition films. She made her debut with Garib and Gawandhi (1942) at around sixteen years of age. Garib was made in Urdu and Gawandhi was made in Punjabi and directed by Mehboob Khan. In Garib, she played the role of Lata and in Gawandhi she played heroine opposite Shyam, who played the hero. She became known for her roles in pre-partition Hindi and Urdu films. Her early years in films came with films such as Najma (1943), Phool (1945) and Humayun (1945). Her last film before the Partition of India was Rajputani (1946), in which she played a supporting role. She decided to remain in India after the partition, and she acted through the mid-to-late-1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. She played roles in big productions such as Halaku (1956), Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), Taj Mahal (1963) (for which she received the Filmfare's Award for Best Supporting Actress), Do Raaste (1969) and Pakeezah (1972). She retired in 1983 after the release of Razia Sultan (1983) in which she played Empress Shah Turkhan. She died in Bombay in 2004 after 21 years of retirement when she was 78 years old after suffering from a protracted illness. She had appeared in over 70 feature films in a career spanning 41 years (1942 till 1983).

Credits

Year Title Character
1986-09-19 Mazloom Purnima's mother
1983-01-07 Jaanwar
1981-08-19 Khwaja Ki Diwani
1980-01-01 Payal Ki Jhankaar
1977-10-02 The Chess Players Queen Mother
1974-12-19 Raja Shiv Chhatrapati Vadisohabeen
1974-08-09 5 Rifles Maharani
1974-02-27 Madhosh Raj's Mother
1973-08-28 Jheel Ke Us Paar
1972-10-18 Parichay Satidevi
1972-09-08 Shehzada
1972-02-04 Pakeezah Nawabjaan
1970-01-01 Kaun Ho Tum
1969-12-05 Do Raaste Mrs. Gupta
1969-01-01 Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai Gurmukh Singh's wife
1968-06-18 Aashirwad Leela S. Choudhary
1968-01-17 Saathi Rajni's Mother
1968-01-01 Shrimanji
1968-01-01 Kahin Din Kahin Raat
1966-01-01 Sannata
1965-01-01 Noor Mahal
1964-12-01 Shehnai
1963-01-31 Taj Mahal Empress Nur Jahan
1963-01-01 Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon
1959-02-01 Kaagaz Ke Phool Veena Varma / Veena Sinha
1959-01-01 Chhoti Bahen
1958-12-31 Khota Paisa Geeta
1958-02-28 Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi Kamini
1958-01-01 Mehndi
1956-06-13 Delhi Durbar
1956-01-01 Halaku Maharani
1951-01-01 Afsana Meera
1950-08-17 Dastan Rani
1945-01-01 Humayun Rajkumari (as Veena Kumari)
1944-02-19 Phool
1943-07-30 Najma Najma