[1][2] After almost 50 years of absence in the industry, she returned to films with her last role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya (2007) as Sonam Kapoor's grandmother.

In her times in 1950s, she was considered a glamour girl of Bollywood, so much so, that Life magazine had a special session with her devoted to her fine sensuous photographs.

[3][4] Begum Para was born as Zubeda Ul Haq in Jhelum in British India (present day in Punjab, Pakistan) to an aristocratic Punjabi Muslim family.

Her father, Mian Ehsan-ul-Haq, was a judge from Jalandhar who, at some point in his life, entered the judicial service of the princely state of Bikaner, which is now part of northern Rajasthan, where he eventually became chief justice of its highest court.

Soon after, she and her sister-in-law Protima made a film called Chhamia (1945) based on the novel ‘Pygmalion’, which again was a huge success.

[9] She did Sohni Mahiwal (1946) and Zanjeer (1947) with Ishwarlal and Dikshit; Neel Kamal (1947) with Raj Kapoor; Mehendi (1947) with Nargis; Suhaag Raat (1948) with Bharat Bhushan and Geeta Bali; Jhalka (1948); and Meherbani (1950) with Ajit Khan.

[13] Following her husband's death, she briefly moved to Pakistan in 1975 to be with her family, two years later she relocated back to India.