Lakshmi Sahgal nee Swaminathan (1914 – 2012), firebrand revolutionary, dedicated physician, freedom fighter, and commander of the world's first women's military regiment, the Rani of Jhansi regiment, was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1998.
Though she was popular as Captain Lakshmi, a reference to her rank when taken prisoner in Burma during the Second World War, her official rank in the Indian National Army (INA) was Lt. Colonel.
Born in Madras/Chennai to an activist mother and lawyer father, she studied medicine and received an MBBS degree from Madras Medical College in 1938.
Every morning, until the day before her heart attack in 2012, she went to the clinic at 9am.
She is the elder sister of eminent dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai, mother of Subhashini Ali (who designed the costumes for the film Umrao Jaan directed by her husband Muzaffar Ali), and grandmother of Shaad Ali, a popular Bollywood director.