Farida Jalal

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Farida Jalal was born in New Delhi. She studied in St. Joseph’s Convent School in Panchgani and took part in a talent contest and had won it . Rajesh Khanna and she were selected as finalists. She was discovered by the United Producers Talent Hunt in 1960’s and she starred in her first film as a Child Artist as baby Farida in the 1960’s hit film Chaudhvin Ka Chand’ Thereafter she starred in over 130 films as a Character artist.

Farida Jalal was married to actor Tabrez Barmavar who hails from Bhatkal in South Kanara District . He died in September 2003. The couple has only one son named Yaseen. Farida Jalal had met her husband on the sets of the film Jeevan Rekha and they both fell in love during the course of the film completion and got married in November 1978. The couple had moved to Bangalore as she was not very active in the filmline after marriage . Her husband owned a soap factory . Her son Yaseen is also into film direction and has been working on projects.

Farida Jalal began her career as a child artist in 1963 with the film Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke which was a melodrama and a hit film. Thereafter she was cast in her first adult role in the film Taqdeer in 1967, a film by Tarachand Barjatya who saw her at the Filmfare Awards function. Farida Jalal then went on to playing the role of leading lady and also did numerous supporting roles in motion pictures between the years 1970 and 1980. In the 1960’s she had also won the United Film Producers Talent Hunt sponsored by Filmfare . She along with the then Superstar Rajesh Khanna were chosen as finalists and were presented together on the stage as winners at the Filmfare Awards Function. At the time she was not aware that she was sharing the stage with the superstar and was going to do a film with him. Years later in 1969 she worked opposite to Rajesh Khanna in the film Aradhana ,in which Rajesh Khanna has a double role. He has acted opposite to Sharmila Tagore in the first half of the film and later opposite Farida Jalal and the film won the Filmfare Awards for the Best film of the Year. In 1971 she was seen in Paras followed by Henna and in 1995 she garnered the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge in which she portrays as a mother’s role to Kajol and has a strong female character role. Farida Jalal was once again seen in the films and has won the Critics Award for the Best Performance for her role in Mammo in 1994 , followed by the Best Actress Award at the 2012 Harlem International Film Festival for her role in a A Gran Plan . She usually played the role of a sister or a rejected fiancée of the male lead but was not much in the league in the lead role as the main artist of the films she was selected for. Farida probably had the typical girl next door looks that won the hearts of her audience with her bubbly cheerful disposition on screen. She is remembered and critically acclaimed for her role in the superhit film Bobby as the mentally challenged would be fiancée of Rishi Kapoor the leading star of the film . Thereafter her roles progressed from Sister’s to that of girlfriend or to aunt or to a grandmother. The most popular song pasteurized on Farida Jalal is ‘Bagon me bahar Hai, Kaliyon pe nikhar hai’ from the film Aradhana. She has had a successful transition from being on the big screen to the silver screen on the Indian Television shows alongside with her work in the films she has been part of television serials and programs like Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Shararat and Ammaji Ki Galli and the most recent is her very strong screen presence in the popular serial Balika Vadhu on Colours . She was also seen in Zee TV portraying the role of Gomati Vatsal in Dadi Maa. Farida Jalal has played the maximum number of sister’s role in her film career starting with Dilip Kumar’s sister and has some of the most dramatic scenes in the films that she is remembered till date. She got her first award for the sister’s role to Sanjeev Kumar in the film Paras followed by her second award for Majboor a film written by Salim Javed wherein she plays a sister to Amitabh Bachchan. She is said to have acted over 40 years and took a break between the year 1983 and 1990 , the time she had moved with her family to Bangalore. In 1990 Farida Jalal was once again a part of many major hits in the Indian Cinema, to name a few they were, 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 the Filmfare Award for the Best Supporting Actress. She has also acted in television serial Dekh Bahi Dekh with a multi star cast like Navin Nischal and Shekhar Suman . Farida Jalal had a long film career but none of them were a major break except one with Rajesh Khanna in Aradhana but her roles though small in the film were significant and are much loved and appreciated and she is one of the very few actresses who has created a niche for herself in the film industry in the slot that she has worked till date and has gained popularity over the years.