https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Durgabai_KamatDurgabai Kamat - Revision history2026-07-31T18:13:30ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Durgabai_Kamat&diff=455587&oldid=prevGarrydum at 18:57, 7 February 20262026-02-07T18:57:21Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian actress (born 1879)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2025}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Durgabai Kamat<br />
| image = Durgabai Kamath.jpg<br />
| caption = <br />
| birth_name = Durgabai Kamat<br />
| birth_date = 1879<br />
| birth_place = [[Mumbai|Bomby]], [[Maharashtra]], [[British Raj]], [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|British India]]<br />
| death_date = Unknown<br />
| death_place = [[Pune]], [[Maharashtra]], [[India]]<br />
| alias = ''The First Female Actress in Indian Cinema''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbctv18.com/entertainment/international-womens-day-durgabai-kamat-the-forgotten-women-of-indian-cinema-16101461.htm|title=Who was the first-ever Bollywood heroine — and more|website=CNBC TV18|date=7 March 2023}}</ref><br />
| occupation = {{Hlist | Actress | singer | dancer | painter}}<br />
| years_active = 1913–1950<br />
| spouse = {{marriage|Anand Nanoskar|1899|1903|reason=div.}}<br />
| children = [[Kamlabai Gokhale]] (daughter)<br />
| relatives = {{plainlist|<br />
* [[Chandrakant Gokhale]] (grandson)<br />
* [[Mohan Gokhale]] (great-grandson)<br />
* [[Vikram Gokhale]] (great-grandson)<br />
}}<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Durgabai Kamat''' (1879 – unknown) was an Indian actress in [[Marathi films]], who was the first actress in [[Cinema of India|Indian cinema]].<ref name=toi/> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.news18.com/movies/from-housewife-to-first-actress-in-indian-cinema-durgabai-kamats-inspiring-journey-7253311.html|title=From Housewife To First Actress In Indian Cinema, Durgabai Kamat's Inspiring Journey|website=News 18|date=10 March 2023}}</ref><br />
<br />
==Early life==<br />
Kamat was born into a [[Gaud Saraswat Brahmin]] family.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Varma|first=Shraddha|date=7 March 2018|url=https://www.idiva.com/womens-month/the-heroes/durgabai-kamat-the-first-female-actor-in-indian-cinema/17074892|title=Durgabai Kamat: The First Female Actor In Indian Cinema|website=Idiva Dot Com|language=en|access-date=18 May 2022}}</ref> 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 Gokhale|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.<ref name=YahooNewsCanada>{{cite web|url=https://ca.news.yahoo.com/durgabai-kamat-indian-silver-screens-first-leading-lady-030025541.html|title=Durgabai Kamat: Indian Silver Screen's First Leading Lady|website=Yahoo News Canada|date=9 December 2020}}</ref><br />
<br />
Durgabai Kamat first joined a travelling theatre company called Chittakarshak Natak Company and lived a nomad's life, with her daughter [[Kamlabai Gokhale|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.<ref name=YahooNewsCanada/><ref>{{cite book|first1=Bhawana|last1=Sommya|first2=Jigna|last2=Kothari|first3=Supriya|last3=Madangarli|title=Mother Maiden Mistress : Women in Hindi Cinema,1950–2010|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dtec0Ykfo1sC&pg=PT4|date=17 April 2012|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers India|isbn=978-93-5029-485-7|page=4}}</ref><br />
<br />
==Career==<br />
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]]''.{{sfn|Watve|2012|p=54}} 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 [[Kamlabai Gokhale|daughter]] played the role of Mohini, thus becoming the first female child actress of Indian cinema. After Kamat, other actresses started working in cinema.<ref>{{cite news |title=Indian cinema@100: First women on screen: Durgabai Kamat and her daughter Kamlabai Ghokhle |author=Riya Chakravarty |url=http://movies.ndtv.com/bollywood/indian-cinema-100-40-firsts-in-indian-cinema-362362 |publisher=NDTV |date=3 May 2013 |accessdate=9 May 2013 |archive-date=4 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130504160827/http://movies.ndtv.com/bollywood/indian-cinema-100-40-firsts-in-indian-cinema-362362 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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]] and co-starred Takle, [[Rafiq Ghaznavi]], Hyder Shah and Manohar Ghatwani.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/durgabai-kamat-the-woman-who-broke-barriers-as-indian-cinemas-first-female-actor/photostory/124683134.cms|title=Durgabai Kamat - The woman who broke barriers as Indian cinema's first female actor|website=Times of India|date=October 28, 2025}}</ref><br />
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==Personal life==<br />
Durgabai married Anand Nanoskar, a history teacher in [[Mumbai|Bombay]] 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 Gokhale|Kamlabai]] on her own.<ref name=YahooNewsCanada/> She was the maternal grandmother of veteran Marathi actor [[Chandrakant Gokhale]],<ref>[https://archive.today/20130103075140/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-06-21/pune/27752775_1_chandrakant-gokhale-marathi-actor Veteran actor Gokhale dead], ''[[The Times of India]]'', 21 June 2008.</ref> and the great-grandmother of actors [[Vikram Gokhale]] and [[Mohan Gokhale]].<ref name=toi>{{cite news |title=Vikram Gokhale has an illustrious family lineage|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-23/did-you-know-/32605578_1_lineage-artiste-durgabai-kamat |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130629123325/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-23/did-you-know-/32605578_1_lineage-artiste-durgabai-kamat |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 June 2013 |date=23 January 2013 |newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|accessdate=9 May 2013}}</ref><br />
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==Death==<br />
It is unknown where and when Kamat died. Her date of death has been mis-cited as 17 May 1997, which is instead her daughter [[Kamlabai Gokhale|Kamalabai Gokhale's]] date of passing. According to the documentary on her daughter's life which was shot in 1988, she was already deceased by then.<ref>{{cite web | title=कमलाबाई I KAMLABAI I REENA MOHAN I 1991 I Marathi, Hindi with English Subtitles | website=[[YouTube]] | date=18 November 2020 | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdpv1xCj4O8&si=C__xOCpl5PEnoeoD }}</ref><br />
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==Filmography==<br />
===Silent Movies===<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Year<br />
! Title<br />
! Role<br />
! Notes<br />
|-<br />
| 1913 || ''[[Mohini Bhasmasur]]'' || Parvati || Debut<br />
|-<br />
| 1927 || ''Babanchi Bayko'' || Durgabai || Directed by Narayanrao D. Sarpotdar<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Talkie Movies===<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Year<br />
! Title<br />
! Role<br />
! Notes<br />
|-<br />
| 1931 || ''Gulami Janjir'' || Renuka || Starred with [[Rafiq Ghaznavi]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
<br />
===Sources===<br />
* {{cite book|title=Dadasaheb Phalke, The Father of Indian Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zTZnAAAAMAAJ|year=2012|orig-year=2004|publisher=National Book Trust|isbn=978-81-237-4319-6|last=Watve|first=Bapu|translator=Virkar, S. A.}}<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
* {{IMDb name|0244038}}<br />
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{{authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamat, Durgabai}}<br />
[[Category:1879 births]]<br />
[[Category:Actresses from Pune]]<br />
[[Category:Indian silent film actresses]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian actresses]]<br />
[[Category:Actresses in Marathi cinema]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women singers]]<br />
[[Category:Actresses from British India]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women classical singers]]<br />
[[Category:Indian film actresses]]<br />
[[Category:Actresses in Hindi cinema]]<br />
[[Category:Marathi actresses]]<br />
[[Category:Year of death missing]]<br />
[[Category:Actresses in Marathi theatre]]<br />
[[Category:Actresses from Mumbai]]</div>Garrydum