Sohrab Modi

Sohrab Merwanji Modi was born 2 November 1897 in Bombay. Born into a Parsi family, he was one of 12 children. His father was an Indian civil servant. He spent his childhood in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh where he developed a liking for Hindi and Urdu languages. After finishing school, he became travelling exhibitor in Gwalior with his brother Keki Modi. At 16 he used to project films in Gwalior's Town Hall and at 26 set up his Arya Subhodh Theatrical Company.

Sohrab began as a Parsi theatre actor with some experience in silent films. He earned quite a reputation as a Shakespearean actor, travelling throughout India with his brother's theatrical company and enjoying the tremendous sense of fulfillment every time the curtain came down and the audience applauded. However, with the advent of the sound film in 1931, theatre was declining. To rescue this dying art, Modi set up the Stage Film Company in 1935. His first two feature films were adapted from theatre plays. Khoon Ka Khoon (1935) was an adaptation of Hamlet and marked Naseem Bano's acting debut. The second, Said-e-Havas (1936) was based on Shakespeare's King John. Both films failed at the box office.

After his relationship with Naseem had run its course (though she continued to work with him in Sheesh Mahal (1950) and Nausherwan-e-Adil (1957)), Sohrab married Mehtab, an actress 20 years his junior, on her birthday on 28 April 1946. Sohrab was 48 years old at that time. Mehtab was born into an aristocratic Muslim family from Gujarat and made her acting debut in Sohrab's directorial, Parakh (1944). They had a son, Mehelli, from this marriage who settled in the UK in 1967, where he would later found the British arthouse DVD label Second Run. Mehtab had a son, Ismail from her first marriage, who lived with them.

Sohrab's elder brother informed him about Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. As Sri Ramakrishna left his body by then, he requested spiritual advice from Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi to realise God. Holy Mother instantly gave him Mantra Diksha finding him a worthy recipient. Holy Mother initiated Sohrab in his early years of life at Udbodhan in Calcutta.