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, 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 ...

, 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, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

Biography

Kanan Bala was born on 22 April 1916 in

Howrah Howrah (; ; alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River, opposite to its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

in a Mahishya family to Ratan Chandra Das and Rajobala Devi. Although, her father was financially affluent, having not only a well paid job but also a jewellery shop, but lost all his earnings in vices such as

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

and drinking. After the death of her 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 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. She starred in the 1932 film Char Darvesh which was also the debut film for

Trilok Kapoor Trilok Kapoor (11 February 1912 23 September 1988) was an Indian actor and a member of the Kapoor family who worked in Bollywood films. He was the younger brother of actor Prithviraj Kapoor. Early and personal life Born in the Kapoor Haveli i ...

, younger brother of Prithviraj Kapoor 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, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

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'', ''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 Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

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'' (; ), also known as Tagore Songs, are songs from the Indian subcontinent written and composed by the Bengalis, Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Indian and also the ...

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

films. She worked with the biggest names in Indian cinema with K. L. Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, Pramathesh Ch Barua (P.C. Barua, maker of film Devdas), Pahari Sanyal, Chabi Biswas,

and Ashok Kumar. 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 Ashok Kumar. 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.

Personal life

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 Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

, 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 Mahalanobis 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, a D. Litt, was awarded to her from Vishwabharati, the Padma Shree in 1968 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1976.

Death

She died on 17 July 1992 in Bellevue Clinic,

when she was around seventy-six years of age.

Honours and accolades

* 1942: BFJA Award – Best Actress Award for Parichaya * 1943: BFJA Award – Best Actress Award for '' Shesh Uttar'' *

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

Award – 1968 * Dadasaheb Phalke Award – 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