On the stage and off

There has long been a relative paucity of autobiographical writings by women, so those that have been written have come to be seen as significant. Perhaps the mainstream did not take such works as seriously as those by men; over the years, such narratives have at times been criticised as overly focusing on the personal, or for not being 'creative' enough. In more recent years, such views have been critiqued by feminists who suggest that the binary of 'personal versus professional' is false. In this light, Zohra Segal's new memoir is important both as offering a strong example of women's autobiography writing, and for shedding light on their experiences of performances, an area that has been insufficiently explored. Writings on theatre history have tended to marginalise the contributions of women, with Segal herself having received significant public acknowledgement but largely pertaining only to her involvement in film. In fact, as she details in her Close-up, her contributions to a spectrum of Southasian culture were wide, significant and exciting.

Segal is an accomplished dancer and choreographer who learned modern dance in Germany. In 1935, she joined Uday Shankar's dance institute in Almora, in what is today Uttarakhand, and proceeded to travel extensively with the troupe to Japan, West Asia, Europe and the US. Eventually, along with her husband, Kameshwar Segal, she acted as co-director for the Zoresh Dance Institute, in Lahore. Due to political turmoil during Partition she shifted to Bombay, and it was here that she became involved with theatre, starting with the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and then with Prithviraj Kapoor. She also tried her hand at directing films and, over the years, appeared in numerous Hindi and English films as well as on television. Oddly, although Segal's participation in the IPTA constituted a significant segment of her life, this memoir does not delve into her politics.