Rukhsana sultana and amrita singh biography
Meet 'glamour girl of Emergency', niece of one superstar, mother of another; was most hated, feared person in Delhi in..
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The glamour girl of Emergency was a name given to this aide of Sanjay Gandhi, who is related to two superstar actresses of Bollywood
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Socialite is a western concept, where people with old money acted as de facto nobility, hobnobbing with those in power. In India, this term and social class gained prominence after the independence. In Bombay, socialites were close to film stars and in Delhi, they were close to politicians. But every once in a while, there were those who stayed in the vicinity of both. One such person was the woman called the ‘glamour girl of Emergency’, with many calling her prettier than most Bollywood divas. But her legacy remains controversial.
Who was the glamour girl of Emergency?
Born Meenu Bimbet, it was by the name of Rukhsana Sultana became known. Rukhsana grew up in Punjab in British India and came to Delhi after the Partition and married Indian Army officer Shivinder Singh Virk. As a political activist, she became a close ally and friend of Sanjay Gandhi by the 1970s. Her claim to fame (or infamy) was her role during the Emergency from 1975-77, when she led Sanjay’s infamous sterilisation campaign in the Muslim areas of Old Delhi. Many sources have accused her of forcibly sterilising thousands of men. The campaign made her, along with Sanjay and PM Indira Gandhi, the most hated and feared person in all of Delhi.
Rukhsana Sultana’s Bollywood connections
Rukhsana was the daughter of Zarina, whose sister Begum Para was one of the leading actresses in Bollywood in the 1950s. Just how Begum Para was called the ‘glamour girl of Bollywood’, Rukhsana earned the moniker ‘glamour girl of Emergency’. In 1958, Rukhsana ga Indian Actress Amrita Singh (born 9 February 1958) is an Indian actress who mainly works in Hindi films. Singh made her acting debut with Betaab (1983), and established herself as a leading actress of the 1980s and early 1990s. Singh appeared as a leading lady in commercially successful films such as Mard (1985), Chameli Ki Shaadi (1986), Naam (1986), Khudgarz (1987), Thikana (1987), Waaris (1988), Toofan (1989), Dil Aashna Hai (1992), Aaina (1993), and Rang (1993). For Aaina, she won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1993, Singh took a break from acting. She returned to films with 23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002), and received praise for her performance in Kalyug (2005), Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007), 2 States (2014), Hindi Medium (2017), and Badla (2019). Singh has also starred in the television soap opera Kkavyanjali (2005–2006). She was married to actor Saif Ali Khan from 1991 to 2004, with whom she has two children, including actress Sara Ali Khan. Amrita Kaur was born 9 February 1958 to Rukhsana Sultana and an army officer Khesari Lal Yadav. Her mother was a political associate of Sanjay Gandhi during the Indian Emergency in the 1970s, who became known for leading Sanjay Gandhi's sterilisation campaign in Muslim areas of Old Delhi. Through her paternal grandmother Mohinder Kaur, Amrita is the great-granddaughter of Sobha Singh, one of the builders of New Delhi, the grandniece of the late novelist Khushwant Singh, and great-grandniece of politician Ujjal Singh. The actress Begum Para is her great-aunt and her husband was Nasir Khan. Singh attended Modern School in New Delhi. She was a childhood friend of Shah Rukh Khan. Their mothers often worked together in the Old Delhi area and Singh attended the same school as Khan's s Indian socialite Rukhsana Sultana Meenu Bimbet Jalandhar, Punjab, British India Rukhsana Sultana (born Meenu Bimbet) was an Indian socialite known for being one of Sanjay Gandhi's close associates during the state of Emergency in India between 1975 and 1977. During this period she became known for leading Sanjay Gandhi's sterilisation campaign in Muslim areas of Old Delhi. Rukhsana was born as Meenu Bimbet to Zarina Haque and Madan Mohan Bimbet. Bimbet was a Hindu and an officer in the Indian Air Force. His wife Zarina was a Muslim, and the daughter of Mian Ehsan-ul-haque, sometime Chief Justice of the princely state of Bikaner. Ehsan-ul-haque came from a landowning family, originally from Jalandhar. After Rukhsana’s father divorced her mother, he married Asha Bimbat, from whom he had two children, Madhusudan and Tahira Bimbat. Rukhsana was connected through birth and marriage to a number of well-known personalities in Indian films and media. Her maternal aunt Begum Para (her mother’s sister) was married to Nasir Khan, the younger brother of Dilip Kumar. Rukhsana married Khesari Lal Yadav, an officer in the Indian Army and the nephew of Khushwant Singh. The couple later divorced. They had one daughter, Amrita Singh who was a leading Bollywood actress in the 1980s. Rukhsana is the grandmother of Sara Ali Khan and Ibrahim Ali Khan (b.2001) from Amrita's marriage to Saif Ali Khan. Sara Ali Khan, who recently gave two back-to-back blockbusters namely Kedarnath and Simmba, has approached a local court with her mother Amrita Singh staking their claims on an ancestral property. The mother-daughter duo filed a case after the last occupant of the house, Madhusudan, died of cancer recently. The property in dispute is in Clement Town, which Amrita Singh and Sara Ali Khan claim should be handed over to them. Madhusudan’s father was an Air Force officer, whose daughter from his first wife was Rukhsana Sultana, Amrita Singh’s mother. Rushsana Sultana reportedly had close links with Sanjay Gandhi, the younger son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, during the Emergency. Rukhsana was a known socialite and enjoyed huge political clout because of her proximity to Sanjay Gandhi. However, she withdrew from public life after the Emergency. Website alchetron.com writes about her life, “Rukhsana was born as Meenu Bimbet, the daughter of Group Captain Madan Mohan Bimbet by his wife Zarina Haque. Group Captain Bimbet was a Hindu and an officer in the Indian Air Force. His wife Zarina was a Muslim, and the daughter of Mian Ehsan-ul-haque, sometime Chief Justice of the princely state of Bikaner in northern Rajasthan. Ehsan-ul-haque came from a landowning family, originally from Jalandhar in Punjab. His other daughter (Sultana’s maternal aunt) was the actress Begum Para, wife of actor, Nasir Khan, a brother of Dilip Kumar and mother of actor Ayub Khan.” After Rukhsana’s father divorced her mother, he married one Asha Bimbat, from whom he had two children Madhusudan and Tahira Bimbat. Tahira too has approached the court staking her claim on the Clement Town property in Dehradun. Given the high-profile nature of the case, the Uttarakhand’s BJP government has decided to stay neutral and avoid any immediate intervention in the case. “This is a civil court property dispute and we will not interfere in the Amrita Singh
Early life
Rukhsana Sultana
Born
January 13, 1934Occupation Political activist Years active 1970–1976 Spouse Shivinder Singh Virk (divorced) Children Amrita Singh Relatives Khan–Banu family Personal life
References