Durgabai Kamat (1879 – 17 May 1997) was an Indian actress in
Marathi films, who was the first actress in
Indian cinema
The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on p ...
.
[ 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.
]
Early life
Kamat was born in a Marathi Brahmin family. 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 until 7th standard and later married a history teacher but it didn't last long. She made her acting debut onstage. She made history as the first female actor, while her daughter 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 ostracised by her Brahmin community.
Durgabai Kamat first joined a travelling theatre company called Chittakarshak Natak Company and lived a nomad's life, with her daughter Kamlabai in tow. As they were on the go all the time, Durgabai also took it upon herself to home school her daughter. Around this time, she 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.[
]
Career
In the early 1900s, acting in film or theatre was a taboo for women, so much so Dadasaheb Phalke
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, ̪ʱuɳɖiɾaːd͡ʒ pʰaːɭke, popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke (30 April 1870 – 16 February 1944), was an Indian producer-director-screenwriter, known as "the Father of Indian ...
, the father of Indian cinema, had to use male actors for female roles in first Indian film, ''Raja Harishchandra
''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, Bhal ...
''. 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
A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state, condition or quality of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show r ...
played the role of Mohini, thus becoming the first female child actress of Indian cinema. After Kamat, other actresses started working in cinema. In 1927, she acted in the 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
Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (24 December 1891 – 18 December 1983) was the first Premier of West Bengal, India from 15 August 1947 to 14 August 1948. He also served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal in the "Progressive Democratic Alliance Fron ...
and co-starred Takle, Rafiq Ghaznavi
Rafiq Ghaznavi (1907 – 4 March 1974) was a British Indian and later a Pakistani musician and actor in pre-partition Indian cinema and later Pakistani cinema.
Early life and education
Rafiq Ghaznavi's ancestors were from Ghazni, Af ...
, Hyder Shah and Manohar Ghatwani.
Personal life
Durgabai married Anand Nanoskar, a history teacher in Bombay
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
but their marriage did not last long. 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.[ She was the maternal grandmother of veteran Marathi actor Chandrakant Gokhale, and the great-grandmother of actors ]Vikram Gokhale
Vikram Gokhale (14 November 1945 – 26 November 2022) 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, Chandrakan ...
.
Death
Kamat died on 17 May 1997, in Pune
Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
, Maharashtra
Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
, at age 117 or 118.
Filmography
Silent Movies
Talkie Movies
References
Sources
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamat, Durgabai
1879 births
Actresses from Pune
Indian silent film actresses
20th-century Indian actresses
Actresses in Marathi cinema
20th-century Indian women singers
1997 deaths
Actresses from British India
20th-century Indian women classical singers
20th-century Indian singers
Indian film actresses
Actresses in Hindi cinema
Marathi actors
Marathi actresses
Indian women centenarians
Supercentenarians
Date of birth missing