Farida Jalal

Farida Jalal has been working in Hindi cinema since the end of the sixties, when she appeared in Aradhana, and by the early seventies she was taking leads and second leads, including Nikki in Bobby. She has appeared in more than two hundred films across a career approaching fifty years, and has won four Filmfare Awards and two Bengal Film Journalists Association Awards.

What happened in the nineties is the interesting part. Most actresses of her generation simply aged out of the industry. Jalal instead became the mother and the aunt of the decade's biggest films, and played the roles so well that they stopped functioning as filler: Lajjo in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Mrs. Khanna in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Daijaan in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Ajay's mother in Dil To Pagal Hai, Kaajal's mother in Judaai, Lily in Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai. Written thin, these women exist to react. She gave them opinions, timing, and the suggestion of a life that started before the film did.

The filmography is broader than the mother years imply. She played Kasturba Gandhi in Hey Ram, took a supporting part in Pinjar, ran a women's shelter in Dushman Duniya Ka, and moved into television with the sitcom Shararat and, more recently, Qudsia Begum in Heeramandi. New credits keep arriving, from Batti Gul Meter Chalu and Jawaani Jaaneman to titles dated 2026.