PercySpivakovsky at 19:23, 14 March 2026

2026-03-14T19:23:55Z

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{{Short description|Indian singer (1898–1984)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2026}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Indubala
| image = Indubala1936.png
| alt = A South Asian woman with a bindi; her dark waved hair is partly covered by a light-colored dupatta
| caption = Indubala, from a 1936 issue of ''The Indian Listener''
| other_names = Indubālā Debī, Miss Indubala, Indu Bala
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1898
| birth_place = [[Amritsar]], [[India]]
| death_date = 30 November 1984 (aged approximately 83)
| death_place = [[Kolkata]], [[India]]
| occupation = Singer and actress
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| relatives =
}}

'''Indubala''' (1898 – 30 November 1984), sometimes credited as '''Miss Indubala''', '''Indubālā Debī''', or '''Indubala Devi''', was a Bengali singer and actress. She received the [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] in 1975.

== Early life ==
Indubala was born in [[Amritsar]], the daughter of Motilal Bose and Rajabala. Her parents were with the Great Bengal Circus,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1= Chakrabarti |first1= Kunal |last2= Chakrabarti |first2= Shubhra |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=QVOFAAAAQBAJ&dq=Singer+Indubala&pg=PA232 |title= Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis |date= 2013-08-22 |publisher= [[Scarecrow Press]] |isbn=978-0-8108-8024-5 |pages=232–233 |language=en}}</ref> and separated soon after her birth.Her father was a circus owner, her mother performed acrobatics in the circus. Her mother also had other siblings, including Matibala who worked in performance and Tinkary a circus performer. She lived with her mother in Calcutta. Her mother later began her singing career in Kolkata.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://hindi-movies-songs.com/sirc/trn-2008-for-net-1.doc.pdf |title=The journal of the ‘Sociely of Indian Record Collectors, Mumbai ’ |publisher= [[Record News]] |access-date= 2026-03-14}}</ref> She trained as a singer in Calcutta with several teachers, including [[Gauhar Jaan]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gupta|first=Debdutta|date=17 January 2020|title=Indubala Devi – the singing sensation of 1915 Calcutta!|url=https://www.getbengal.com/details/indubala-devi-the-singing-sensation-of-1915-calcutta|access-date=2021-11-14|website=Get Bengal|language=en}}</ref>{{Citation not found|date=2026-03-14}} [[Kamal Dasgupta]], and [[Kazi Nazrul Islam]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Guha|first=Jyoti Prakash|date=2008|title=A short biography of Indubala|url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/books/trn/pdfs/trn_2008.pdf |journal= [[Record News]] |pages=35–50}}</ref> Gauhar Jaan was indubala's most helpful teacher, not only teaching her to sing but also instructing her in etiquette. Indubala began her singing career as a courtesan ([[tawaif]]) in her teens.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.getbengal.com/details/indubala-devi-the-singing-sensation-of-1915-calcutta |title=Indubala Devi â€“ the singing sensation of 1915 Calcutta! |publisher=Getbengal
|access-date=2020-01-17}}</ref>{{Citation not found|date=2026-03-14}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/archives-and-afterlives-of-nautch-dancers-in-india/joyous-courtesan-worlds/A0F87C62317CB1487100EED0C8DA312A |title=4 - Joyous Courtesan Worlds Amod (Pleasure), Alladi (Indulgence) and Indubala’s Scrapbook |publisher=Cambridge University |access-date= 2025-10-24}}</ref> Indubala's mother wanted her to become a nurse, she had even been accepted as an intern at a hospital in Pataldanga, Kolkata. However, Indubala didn't like nursing and ultimately chose to follow in her mother's footsteps as a singer, despite her mother's disappointment at her decision to give up nursing.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://indianraga.wordpress.com/2010/09/05/78rpm-vintage-indubala/ |title= 78rpm vintage: Indubala |publisher= Indian Raga |access-date= 2026-03-14}}</ref>

== Career ==
Indubala is considered one of the great Bengali women singers.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Murshid|first=Ghulam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9o4SEAAAQBAJ&dq=Singer+Indubala&pg=PT301|title=Bengali Culture Over a Thousand Years|date=2018-01-25|publisher=Niyogi Books|isbn=978-93-86906-12-0|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bhattacharya|first=Rimli|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M75aDwAAQBAJ&dq=Singer+Indubala&pg=PT276|title=Public Women in British India: Icons and the Urban Stage|date=2018-05-15|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-429-01655-4|language=en}}</ref> She made her first of hundreds of recordings for [[Gramaphone Records]] in 1915 or 1916.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Denning|first=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGznDwAAQBAJ&dq=Singer+Indubala&pg=PT26|title=Noise Uprising: The Audiopolitics of a World Musical Revolution|date=2015-08-01|publisher=Verso Books|isbn=978-1-78168-857-1|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Joshi|first=G. N.|date=1988|title=A Concise History of the Phonograph Industry in India|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/853533|journal=Popular Music|volume=7|issue=2|pages=147–156|doi=10.1017/S0261143000002725|jstor=853533|s2cid=161788875 |issn=0261-1430|url-access=subscription}}</ref> She performed on stage with her mother's company, the Rambagan Female Kali Theatre,<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Chakraborti|first=Bikas|title=Boundaries of the Self: Gender, Culture and Spaces|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|year=2014|isbn=9781443860789|editor-last=Banerjee|editor-first=Debalina|pages=127–139; quote on page 138|chapter=Mirabai and Indubala: Spiritual Empowerment Redefined|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L6ExBwAAQBAJ&dq=Singer+Indubala&pg=PA127}}</ref> and at the [[Star Theatre, Kolkata|Star Theatre]]. She sang on All India Radio beginning in 1927, on the broadcaster's second day on the air, and regularly through the 1930s.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=22 December 1940|title=Miss Indubala|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iuXiDwAAQBAJ&q=%22The+Indian+Listener%22|journal=The Indian Listener|volume=6|pages=11}}</ref> In 1936 she was appointed court musician to the [[Maharaja of Mysore]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=E8XdDwAAQBAJ&dq=Singer+Indubala&pg=PA952 "Books Reviewed" ''The Indian Listener''] (22 September 1936): 952.</ref> Beginning in the 1930s she provided [[Playback singer|playback vocals]] for sound films, and she acted on-screen in more than two dozen films, including ''[[Rajrani Meera]]'' (1933), ''[[Sati Sulochana]]'' (1934), and ''[[Naveena Sarangadhara]]'' (1936).<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Dickey|first1=Sara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hKSbDwAAQBAJ&dq=Singer+Indubala&pg=PT41|title=South Asian Cinemas: Widening the Lens|last2=Dudrah|first2=Rajinder|date=2018-10-24|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-97729-2|language=en}}</ref> She retired from the stage in 1950. She received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1975.<ref name=":1" />

Indubala lived most of her life in the Rambagan neighborhood of Calcutta,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Purkayastha|first=Prarthana|date=2021|title=Outing Pleasure and Indulgence: Indubala's Scrapbook and the Red-Light Dances of Calcutta|journal=Contemporary Theatre Review|volume=31|issue=1–2|pages=14–33|doi=10.1080/10486801.2021.1878502 |issn=1048-6801|s2cid=234783392|doi-access=free}}</ref> and was concerned for the welfare of the actresses and sex workers concentrated in that district. "I am Rambagan's Indu," she declared. "Here I have learnt music, established myself, and got respect."<ref name=":2" />

== Personal life ==
After several years of declining health, Indubala died in 1984, in Calcutta, in her mid-eighties.<ref name=":0" /> She is one of the title characters of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's short story "Einstein and Indubala" (2016).<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ravi|first=S.|date=2016-04-20|title=Tales that continue to rankle|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/Tales-that-continue-to-rankle/article14247753.ece|access-date=2021-11-15|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> In 2020 a compilation album of Indubala's recordings was released on vinyl, by Tara Disc.<ref>{{Citation|last=Discogs|title=Miss Indubala – Miss Indubala (1889-1984) (2020, Vinyl)|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/16253781-Miss-Indubala-Miss-Indubala-1889-1984|language=en|access-date=2021-11-15}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==

* {{IMDb name|id=0408569}}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJMDSXLWh-k Miss Indubala Raga Bhairavi Coln: Rantideb Maitra], a recording by Indubala, on YouTube
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Indubala}}
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1984 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Amritsar]]
[[Category:Indian women singers]]
[[Category:Musicians from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Bengali singers]]
[[Category:Singers from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Indian courtesans]]

Indubala - Revision history

PercySpivakovsky at 19:23, 14 March 2026