Fatma Begum, with music by Jaddanbai Hussain

The first female director in Bollywood
Is how I’ll be known when I’m with the resters
Our industry began before Hollywood

In 1899 we had The Wrestlers
In Old California arrived much later
I was with the Indian cinema settlers

I pursued a career path as a dream maker
I was from an Urdu-Muslim family
I was very hardworking, not a faker

They tried to tie my name to some calumny
Claiming I married the Sachin State ruler
No records of this exist actually

What is certain is I was a proud mother
My Zubeida, Sultana, and Shehzadi
Were the top actresses one could discover

My great-grandchildren were in this industry
I suppose motion pictures ran in our veins
From the stage I shifted to screen imagery

Veer Abhimanyu captured me in film frames
Usually men played the role of women
I liberated the system from these chains

With me the female actor was unhidden
For my fair complexion I used dark make-up
That suited the sepia reel exhibition

My pretty onscreen face wanted to shake up
So I launched my own production house promptly
In 1926 Fatma Films came up

Bulbul-e-Paristan, my first fantasy
Marked my directorial debut with grandeur
Many lakhs of rupees were used tactfully

For this high budget picture show of allure
I was the Georges Méliès of my populace
In 1928 I was in galore

My company changed name and grew in success
Victoria-Fatima Films thrived, as I
My trick photography was quite a progress

For special effects I developed a keen eye
Writing, directing, producing were my craft
For acting jobs, with bliss, I would still apply

Working at Kohinoor Studios was a blast
Namaste to the Imperial Studios too
Goddess of Luck was the film I shot for last

I acted in Duniya Kya Hai? and was through
After sixteen years in film I was content
Fatma Begum shaped cinematics anew.