New Delhi, Jan 25 (IANS) She has always been known for her versatile acting, but on Friday when theatre matriarch Zohra Segal, 97, was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, her daughter said that she was ailing and hardly in a mood to celebrate.
“I am delighted about the award! My mother is happy but she is not meeting anyone and not taking any calls. She is 97 years old so you see it’s a little exhausting taking calls and meeting people and she is not in the mood,” Kiran Segal, Zohra’s dauhter and renowned Odissi dansuese, told IANS.

Two months later, President Pratibha Patil will confer the award to Zohra and five others at an official function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Asked if Zohra would accept the award in person, Kiran just said: “I don’t know…she is not well. Lets see.”

Zohra Segal started her career in 1935 as a dancer with the legendary Uday Shankar’s troupe.

She has appeared in several Bollywood films and English language films as well as done stints on the small screen. She is best remebered for her appearances in Bhaji on the Beach (1992), Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Dil Se (1998) and Cheeni Kum (2007).

Considered a doyenne of Indian theatre, she acted with Indian People’s Theatre Association and Prithviraj Kapoor’s Prithvi Theatre for fourteen years, during the period travelled over India, with the troupe.

Segal was awarded the Padma Shri in 1998.