Kanan Devi (22 April 1916 – 17 July 1992) was an Indian actress and singer. She was among the early singing stars of

Indian cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, ...

, and is credited popularly as the first star of Bengali cinema. Her singing style, usually in rapid tempo, was used instrumentally in some of the biggest hits of New Theatres,

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Biography

Kanan was born on 22 April 1916 in

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

. In her autobiography, entitled "Sabaray Ami Nami", Kanan has observed that those she considered as her parents were Ratan Chandra Das and Rajobala, who lived together. After the death of her adoptive father, Ratan Chandra Das, young Kanan and Rajobala were simply left to fend for themselves. Her life story is a true tale of rags to riches. Some say she did her schooling (not completed) from Howrah's St. Agnes' Convent School. A well wisher, Tulsi Banerji, whom she called Kaka babu, introduced Kanan when she was only ten to Madan Theatres/Jyoti Studios, where she was cast in a small role in ''Jaidev'' (1926), followed by Shankaracharya in 1927. She was known as Kanan Bala. Kanan did at least five films with

Madan Theatres Madan Theatre Company, also known as Madan Theatres Limited or Madan Theatres in short, was a film production company founded by Jamshedji Framji Madan, one of the pioneers of Indian Cinema. History Madan, a young Parsi businessman, who had ex ...

productions, (1926–1932) ''Rishir Prem'' (1931), ''Jorebarat'' (1931), ''Vishnu Maya'' (1932) and ''Prahlad'', playing even male leads in the last two. She then worked with Radha Films from 1933 to 1936, then with New Theatres from 1937 to 1941, with MP Productions 1942 to 1948 and finally set up her own label Shrimati Pictures, 1949 to 1965. From silent film roles as a child artist, Kanan made the successful transition into talkie films and was noticed with ''Jorebarat'' (1931), ''Manomoyee Girls School'', ''Khooni Kaun'' and ''Maa'' (1934). Her films with Jyotish Bannerjee included ''Joydev'' (1926), ''Rishir Prem'' (1931), ''Jorebarat'' (1931), ''Vishnumaya'' (1932), ''Kantahaar'' (1935) and ''Manomoyee Girls School'' (1935). Her films with Prafulla Ghosh were ''Sree Gouranga'' (1933), ''Char Darvesh'' (1933), ''Maa'' (1934) and ''Hari Bhakti''. Others with Radha Film Company were ''Kanthahar'' (1935), ''Krishna Sudama'' (1936), ''Bishabriksha'' (1936) and ''Char Darvesh'' (1933). New Theatres's P.C. Barua wanted her to play the lead in his ''Devdas'' (1935), but, due to contractual reasons with Radha, she could not act in the film, a factor she regretted all her life. The films of New Theatres, owned by Biren Sircar, established her as a superhit singer and her films ran to packed audiences. She had to travel under constant protection, given her huge fan following. During her years with New Theatres,

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

from 1937, she played the lead in Barua's ''Mukti'' (1937), which was perhaps her finest performance, making her the studio's top star. Apart from Mukti, she did ''

Vidyapati Vidyapati ( – 1460), also known by the sobriquet ''Maithil Kavi Kokil'' (the poet cuckoo of Maithili), was a Maithili and Sanskrit polymath-poet-saint, playwright, composer, biographer, philosopher, law-theorist, writer, courtier ...

'', ''Saathi'' (1938), '' Street Singer'' (1938), ''Sapera'' (1939), ''Jawani Ki Reet'' (1939), ''Parajay'' (1939), ''Abhinetri'' (1940), '' Lagan'' (1941), ''Parichay'' (1941) and ''Jawab'' (1942). She became known as Kanan Devi from this point. She came in contact with the music maestro Rai Chand Boral, who not only coached and familiarized her in the

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

accent, but experimented with many classical Western and Indian forms in his music. She received her initial musical training under Alla Rakha. She was employed as a singer at the Megaphone Gramaphone Company, receiving further training under Bhishmadev Chatterjee. She later learnt

Rabindra Sangeet ''Rabindra Sangeet'' ( bn, রবীন্দ্র সঙ্গীত; ), also known as Tagore Songs, are songs from the Indian subcontinent written and composed by the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in ...

under Anadi Dastidar. Kanan remained the top star of New Theatres until she resigned her contract in 1941 and began to freelance in

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and

films. She worked with the biggest names in Indian cinema with

K. L. Saigal Kundan Lal Saigal, often abbreviated as K. L. Saigal (11 April 1904 – 18 January 1947), was an Indian singer and actor who is considered the first superstar of the Hindi film industry, which was centred in Kolkata during Saigal's time, but is ...

, Pankaj Mullick, Pramathesh Ch Barua (P.C. Barua, maker of film Devdas),

Pahari Sanyal Pahari Sanyal (22 February 1906 – 10 February 1974) was an Indian actor and singer who is known for his work in Bengali cinema. Sanyal acted in many Bengali films, such as '' Harano Sur'', ''Bhanu Goenda Jahar Assistant'', and ''Shilpi''. ...

, Chabi Biswas and

Ashok Kumar Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family. He ...

. M.P. Productions's ''Jawaab'' was perhaps her biggest hit. Her song ''Duniya Yeh Duniya, Hai Toofan Mail'' was well received. She repeated the same feat in ''Hospital'' (1943), ''Banphool'' (1945) and ''Rajlakshmi'' (1946). Kanan Devi's last Hindi film was ''Chandrashekhar'' (1948), with

. Kanan turned producer with Shrimati Pictures in 1949 and later launched the Sabyasachi Collective with the film ''Ananya'' (1949). Her own productions were mainly based on the stories of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Kanan married Ashok Maitra in December 1940. He was the son of the staunch Brahmo Samaj educationist Heramba Chandra Maitra. Despite their best intentions, the marriage could not withstand the severe condemnation by the then conservative society. Even the poet Rabindranath Tagore, who sent a token gift to the married couple received scathing criticism for blessing the couple. The main issue was that Kanan was not expected to be working in films after her marriage. She filed for divorce in 1945. Despite the pain of the divorce, Kanan expressed her immense gratitude towards her first husband for giving her social recognition through marriage for the first time in her life. To Kanan's credit, she maintained excellent relations with Rani Mahanalobis, sister to Ashok Maitra and her husband, the famous social scientist P.C. Mahanalobis and with Kusumkumari Devi, Ashok Maitra's mother, even after the marriage was severed. Kanan married Haridas Bhattacharjee around 1949. Haridas Bhattacharjee was then ADC to the Governor of Bengal. He eventually left the naval service to join Kanan in her filmmaking venture and became a competent director. While raising their son Siddharth in Calcutta, she also formed and worked as the president of Mahila Shilpi Mahal, an organization to help senior female artists and other charitable and community causes, including those for the betterment of Bengali cinema. Kanan Devi, as the first lady of the Bengali screen, received many honours for her contribution to Indian cinema. An honorary degree from Vishwabharati, the

Padma Shree Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confer ...

in 1968 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1976. She died on 17 July 1992 in Bellevue Clinic,

when she was around seventy-six years of age.

Honour

* 1942-Won

BFJA Award Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards commonly referred as BFJA Awards, is given by The Bengal Film Journalists' Association. The BFJA is the oldest association of film critics in India, founded in 1937 to serve the developing film journalism ...

-Best Actress Award for Parichaya * 1943-Won

-Best Actress Award for Shesh Uttar She was awarded the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

Award in 1968. She was awarded the

Dadasaheb Phalke Award The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in the field of cinema. It is presented annually at the National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals, an organisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broad ...

in 1976. A postage stamp, bearing Kanan's likeness, was released to honour her by India's Ministry of State for Communication and Information Technology in February 2011.

Filmography

Actor

Playback singer

# Asha (1956) (playback singer) # Debatra (1955) (playback singer) # Naba Bidhan (1954) (playback singer) # Darpachurna (1952) (playback singer) # Mejdidi (1950) (playback singer) # Ananya (1949) (playback singer) # Anirban (1948) (playback singer) # Bankalekha (1948) (playback singer) ... a.k.a. The Crooked Writing # Faisla (1947) (playback singer) # Chandrashekhar (1947) (playback singer) # Arabian Nights (1946) (playback singer) # Krishna Leela (1946) (playback singer) ... a.k.a. Radha Krishna Prem ... a.k.a. The Story of Lord Krishna # Tum Aur Main (1946) (playback singer) # Tumi Aar Aami (1946) (playback singer) # Ban Phool (1945) (playback singer) # Path Bendhe Dilo (1945) (playback singer) # Rajlaxmi (1945) (playback singer) # Bideshini (1944) (playback singer) # Jogajog (1943) (playback singer) # Jawab (1942) (playback singer) ... a.k.a. Shesh Uttar (India: Bengali title) ... a.k.a. The Last Reply # Lagan (1941) (playback singer) # Parichay (1941) (playback singer) ... a.k.a. Acquaintance ... a.k.a. Marriage # Abhinetri (1940) (playback singer) # Haar Jeet (1940) (playback singer) # Jawani Ki Reet (1939) (playback singer) # Parajay (1939) (playback singer) # Sapera (1939) (playback singer) ... a.k.a. The Snake-Charmer (India: English title) # Sapurey (1939) (playback singer) ... a.k.a. The Snake-Charmer (India: English title) # Bidyapati (1937) (playback singer) # Mukti (1937/I) (playback singer) ... a.k.a. Freedom ... a.k.a. The Liberation of the Soul # Mukti (1937/II) (playback singer) # Vidyapati (1937) (playback singer) # Bishabriksha (1936) (playback singer) ... a.k.a. The Poison Tree # Krishna Sudama (1936) (playback singer) ... a.k.a. Krishna and Sudama # Manmoyee Girls School (1935) (playback singer) # Maa (1934) (playback singer) # Char Darvesh (1933) (playback singer) ... a.k.a. Merchant of Arabia (India: English title) # Vishnumaya (1932) (playback singer) ... a.k.a. Doings of Lord Vishnu # Jore Barat (1931) (playback singer) # Prahlad (1931/I) (playback singer)

Producer

# Abhaya O Srikanta (1965) (producer) # Indranath Srikanta O Annadadidi (1959) (producer) # Rajlakshmi O Srikanta (1958) (producer) # Andhare Alo (1957) (producer) # Asha (1956) (producer) # Debatra (1955) (producer) # Naba Bidhan (1954) (producer) # Darpachurna (1952) (producer) # Mejdidi (1950) (producer) # Ananya (1949) (producer) # Bamuner Meye (1949) (producer)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Kanan 1916 births People from Howrah 1992 deaths Actresses in Bengali cinema Dadasaheb Phalke Award recipients Actresses in Hindi cinema Indian women playback singers Indian film actresses 20th-century Indian actresses 20th-century Indian singers Singers from West Bengal Actresses from West Bengal 20th-century Indian women singers Women musicians from West Bengal