Sardar Akhtar

Sardar Akhtar
Still shot from the film Asra (1941)
Born	Sardar Begum 1915 Lahore, British India
Died	1986 (aged 70–71) New York City, US
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	Mumbai
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1933–45, 1971–73
Spouse(s)	Mehboob Khan

Sardar Akhtar was an Indian cinema actress of Hindi/Urdu films. She started her acting career on the Urdu stage. Her early films were with Saroj Movietone, where she did a majority of stunt (action) roles. She finally came into prominence as the washer-woman in the role of Rami Dhoban in Sohrab Modi's Pukar (1939). As a woman seeking justice for the death of her husband, it was a break-through role for her. A popular song she sang in the film was "Kaheko Mohe Chhede". Her career defining role was as a "peasant woman" deserted by her husband, in Mehboob Khan's Aurat (1940), a role later made famous by Nargis, in Mehboob's remake Mother India.

She acted in over fifty films in a career span of 1933–45. Akhtar married Mehboob Khan in 1942, whom she had met when he cast her in Ali Baba (1940). She stopped acting in films after completing films like Fashion (1943) and Rahat. She resumed as a character actress in the 1970s when she acted in O. P. Ralhan's Hulchul (1971).

Akhtar was born in 1915, in Lahore, British India. She started as a supporting "dancer-artiste", and commenced her film career by acting in stage plays produced by Madan Theatres Ltd.

Akhtar started her career at Saroj Movietone doing what were then termed as "stunt" films. She acted in films directed by A. P. Kapoor (Anand Prasad Kapoor) like Roop Basant, Id Ka Chand, Malti Madhav, all in 1933. Some of the action films she did at Saroj were directed by J. P. Advani (Jagatrai Pesumal Advani), which included films like Gafil Musafir, Johare-Shamsheer, Shah Behram and Tilasimi Talwar. In 1934 she acted in Hothal Padmini directed by Kanjibhai Rathod.

In 1935, Akhtar acted in Delhi Express, directed by Madanrai Vakil. In 1936, she was starred with K. L. Saigal in the farcical-comedy film Karodpati. The comedy was a rare departure from Saigal's normally serious films. 1938 had Akhtar playing a masked avenger in Vijay Bhatt directed State Express (1938). The film was stated to be a "successful film" doing well at the box-office. The main draw of the film was a "performing gorilla" and Sardar Akhtar's songs and performance. It was cited by Rajadhyaksha and Willemen as one of the "best stunt films" from Bhatt, who normally made mythologicals.