Durgabai Kamat | |
---|---|
Born | Durgabai Kamat 1879 |
Died | 17 May 1997 117–118) | (aged
Nationality | Indian |
Other names | The First Female Actress in Indian Cinema [1] |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1913–1950 |
Spouse | Anand Nanoskar (m. 1899;div. 1903) |
Children | Kamlabai Gokhale (daughter) |
Relatives |
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Durgabai Kamat was a Marathi actress, who was the first actress in Indian cinema. [2] She is known as The First Female Actress in Indian Cinema when she acted in film Mohini Bhasmasur in 1913 at that time when it was not considered an appropriate profession for girls from respectable families. [3]
Kamat was born in a Marathi Hindu Brahmin family. [4] She was interested in arts from a very young age and her father was a renowned musician. Durga learnt to play musical instruments such as the veena, tabla and sitar. She could sing, dance and paint like most upper-caste families of that time, was very conservative. She studied till 7th standard and later married a history teacher but it didn't last long. Durgabai made her debut as an actress in stage and theatre plays and made history as the first female actor, while Kamlabai became the first child actress of Indian Cinema. Her rather bold decision to raise her child single-handedly and to pursue a career in acting saw her being ostracized by her Brahmin community. [5]
Durgabai Kamat first joined a traveling theatre company called Chittakarshak Natak Company and lived a nomad's life, with her daughter Kamlabai in tow. Because they were on the go all the time, Durgabai also took it upon herself to home school her daughter. Around this time, Durgabai took up Dadasaheb Phalke on his offer to star in his next feature film, along with her daughter. Mohini Bhasmasur was a mythological black and white feature film, starring Kamlabai as Mohini and Durgabai as her mother, Parvati. [5] [6]
In the early 1900s, acting in film or theatre was a taboo for women, so much so Dadasaheb Phalke, the father of Indian cinema, had to use male actors for female roles in first Indian film, Raja Harishchandra . [7] However with its success, female actresses were encouraged. Thus he introduced Kamat in his 1913 second movie Mohini Bhasmasur as a leading lady Parvati, while her daughter Kamlabai Gokhale, played the role of Mohini, thus becoming the first female child actress of Indian cinema. After Kamat, other actresses started working in cinema. [8]
In 1927 she acted in film Babanchi Bayko directed by Narayanrao D. Sarpotdar, starring K. Ghaneker, Koregonkar Durgabai, Varne Pandurang and Gondhaleker. With the coming of sound in movies then in 1931 she acted in Gulami Janjir a social film, directed by Prafulla Chandra Ghosh and co-starred Takle, Rafiq Ghaznavi, Hyder Shah and Manohar Ghatwani.
Durgabai married Anand Nanoskar a history teacher at the J. J. School of Arts, Bombay but their marriage did not last long, and despite the societal taboos, they parted ways in 1903. After their separation, Durgabai went on to raise her then three-year-old daughter Kamlabai on her own. [5] She was also the maternal grandmother of veteran Marathi actor Chandrakant Gokhale, [9] and the great-grandmother of actors Vikram Gokhale and Mohan Gokhale. [2]
Kamat died on 17 May 1997, in Pune, Maharashtra, at aged 118. [10]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1913 | Mohini Bhasmasur | Parvati | Debut |
1927 | Babanchi Bayko | Durgabai | Directed by Narayanrao D. Sarpotdar |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1931 | Gulami Janjir | Renuka | Starred with Rafiq Ghaznavi |
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke, was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as "the Father of Indian cinema".
Raja Harishchandra is a 1913 Indian silent film directed and produced by Dadasaheb Phalke. It is often considered the first full-length Indian feature film. Raja Harishchandra features Dattatraya Damodar Dabke, Anna Salunke, Bhalchandra Phalke and Gajanan Vasudev Sane. It is based on the legend of Harishchandra, with Dabke portraying the title character. The film, being silent, had English, Marathi, and Hindi-language intertitles.
Kamat or Kamath is a surname from Goa, Maharashtra and coastal Karnataka in India. It is found among Hindus of the Goud Saraswat Brahmin, Saraswat and Rajapur Saraswat Brahmin communities following Madhva Sampradaya of either Gokarna Matha or Kashi Matha.
Gokhale is an Indian surname found in the Chitpawan community native to the western state of Maharashtra.
Durga Khote was an Indian actress, beginning as one of the foremost leading ladies of her time. She remained active in Hindi and Marathi cinema, as well as theatre, for over 50 years, starring in around 200 films and numerous theatre productions.
Vikram Gokhale was an Indian film, television and stage actor, noted for his roles in Marathi theatre, Hindi films and television. He was the son of the Veteran Marathi theatre and film actor, Chandrakant Gokhale.
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Marathi Cinema, also known as Marathi film industry, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Marathi language widely spoken in the state of Maharashtra. It is based in Mumbai. It is the oldest film industry of India and one of the leaders in filmmaking in the Indian film industry.
D. D. Dabke or Dattatraya Damodar Dabke was an actor in the first ever Indian full length silent film Raja Harishchandra, directed by Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913. He co-starred with Anna Salunke. He acted in three more movies Satyavadi Raja Harishchandra (1917), Lanka Dahan (1917), Shri Krishna Janma (1918) and later became a cinematographer, as well as a director. He directed the 1924 remake of Raja Harishchandra
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Kamlabai Gokhale was one of the first actresses in Indian cinema, along with her mother Durgabai Kamat.
Vibhawari Deshpande is an Indian actress, writer and director who works in Marathi theatre and Marathi cinema.
Mohini Bhasmasur is a 1913 Indian mythological film directed by Dadasaheb Phalke and starring Kamlabai Gokhale and Durgabai Kamat. It is India's and Phalke's second full-length feature film. Mohini Bhasmasur is the first Indian film to have a female actor. In Raja Harischandra, India's and Phalke's first film, the role of the female was played by Anna Salunke, a male.
Chandrakant Raghunath Gokhale was a well-known veteran Marathi film and stage actor and singer.