Zaheeda Hussain


Zaheeda Hussain, commonly known by her mononym Zaheeda, is an Indian film actress, who is best known for appearing in films such as Anokhi Raat, Gambler, and Prem Pujari.
Born in Mumbai, she is daughter of Akhtar Hussain, who was film producer and son of director Jaddanbai. Her aunt was Bollywood actress Nargis Dutt, and her uncle was character actor Anwar Hussain.
Zaheeda was originally offered the sister's role in Hare Rama Hare Krishna by Dev Anand, but turned it down as she found it too bold of a role - the film turned to be a cult hit. After this, a majority of her later films flopped, and Zaheeda eventually retired the film industry. Zaheeda briefly returned to the silver screen in a DD1 serial Amrapali in 2002.

Personal life

Zaheeda Hussain later married a businessman, Kesri Nandan Sahay and retired from the film industry. She has two sons, one of which, Nilesh Sahay, made his feature film debut with choreographer Ganesh Acharya's' Angel in 2011.

Selected filmography