It was the inaugural Miss India pageant in 1947, and a gorgeous model named “Esther Abraham” made history by winning the first-ever title. The crown and trophy were handed over by the then Chief Minister of Bombay, Morarji Desai, at Liberty Cinema. What makes it even more interesting is that she was 31 years old and expecting her fifth child.
In a fascinating turn of events, exactly twenty years later, in 1967, her daughter Naqi Jahan claimed the Miss India crown. They remain the first and only mother-daughter duo in the history of the Miss India pageant to achieve this milestone.
Esther Victoria Abraham (30 December 1916 – 6 August 2006), widely known as Pramila, hailing from a Baghdadi Jewish family of Kolkata, made her mark as a model, actress, and one of the early female film producers in the Hindi film industry.
At the age of 17, she left her home in Kolkata with aspirations of achieving fame in the glamorous world of entertainment and joined a Parsi travelling theatre company in Mumbai as an entertainer. Her job was to keep the audiences quiet by her dance performance during those 15 minutes when the reel projector had to be changed.
It was Director RS Chowdhari who spotted her. Subsequently, she was signed up to work at Imperial Company and was hired by ‘Movie Tone’ to play a westernised vamp in ‘Bhikaran(1935). It was released in and Esther’s Anglicised Hindi became a hot rage.
She was given a screen name, Pramila, by Baburao Pendharkar, a reputed actor and director in those days. She acted in many films as Pramila, including Hamari Betiya (1936), Ulti Ganga, Jungle King (1939), Kanchan, directed by Leela Chitnis (1941), Basant (1942), and many more.
She went on to star in about 30 films as a vamp and a fearless stunt star. Esther eventually became one of India’s first female film producers, with 16 films under her Silver Productions banner.
As a filmmaker, she passionately promoted her movies in Pakistan, making frequent trips to the neighbouring country. Sadly, a turning point arrived when Morarji Desai, who once crowned her Miss India, had her arrested on suspicions of espionage. Eventually proven innocent, it was clarified that her visits to Pakistan were solely for film promotion.
A resilient spirit, Esther, chose not to move to Pakistan when her husband, Syed Hasan Ali Zaidi, known as “Kumar” for his role as Sangtraash in “Mughal-e-Azam,” decided to migrate in 1963. Esther stayed in India, raising her five children.
Life took a challenging turn when her husband left her in significant debt. Their family building was mortgaged, and parts of it were requisitioned by the government. Esther, setting aside her past stardom and glory, chose to face the adversity head-on. Utilising her film finances and savings, she successfully thwarted auctions twice and overcame a civic injunction. Preferring a life away from the spotlight, Esther raised her four sons and a daughter. Eventually, she emerged victorious in the monumental struggle to reclaim her property in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park area from creditors and authorities.
This talented artist passed away in 2006, just five months shy of her ninetieth birthday.
