Durgabai Kamat
Durgabai Kamat (1899 – 17 May 1997) was a Marathi actress, who was the first actress of Indian cinema.[1] 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 to female role in first Indian film, Raja Harishchandra, however with its success, female actress were encouraged, thus he introduced Kamat in his 1913 second movie Mohini Bhasmasur [2] as a leading lady Parvati, while her daughter Kamlabai Gokhale (born Kamlabai Kamat), played the role of as Mohini, thus becoming the first female child actress of Indian cinema. After Kamat other actress started working in cinema.[3]
Durgabai was also the maternal grandmother of veteran Marathi actor Chandrakant Gokhale,[4] and the great-grandmother of actors Vikram Gokhale and Mohan Gokhale.[1]
She died on 17 May 1997, in Pune, Maharashtra, at the age of 98.[5]
References
- "Vikram Gokhale has an illustrious family lineage". The Times of India. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
- Durgabai Kamat on IMDb
- Riya Chakravarty (3 May 2013). "Indian cinema@100: First women on screen: Durgabai Kamat and her daughter Kamlabai Ghokhle". NDTV. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
- Veteran actor Gokhale dead, The Times of India, 21 June 2008.
- DOB IMDB.