Dan at 15:35, 7 May 2026

2026-05-07T15:35:58Z

New page

{{Mscn|date=January 2026}}
{{Short description|Indian actress}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2026}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jaddanbai
| other_names = Jayadevi
| image = Jaddanbai.jpg
| birth_name = Jaddanbai
| birth_date = {{birth date|1892|04|01|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Benares]], [[Benares State]], [[British Raj|British India]] (present-day [[Varanasi]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], India)
| death_date = {{death date and age|1949|4|8|1892|4|1|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Bombay]], [[Bombay State]], [[Dominion of India|India]] (present-day [[Mumbai]], [[Maharashtra]], India)
| resting_place = Chandanwadi Cemetery, [[Mumbai]]
| occupation = {{Hlist | Actress | Composer | Singer | Music director | Director | Producer | Dancer | Writer}}
| years_active = 1897 - 1949
| spouse = {{unbulleted list|
|Narottamdas Khatri
|Irshad Meer Khan
|Mohanchand Uttamchand Dutt (Abdul Rashid)}}
|relatives= [[Priya Dutt]] (granddaughter) [[Sanjay Dutt]] (grandson) [[Sunil Dutt]] (son-in-law) [[List of Hindi film families#Dutt family (of Sunil Dutt)|Dutt family]]
| children = Akhtar Hussain (son) [[Anwar Hussain (actor)|Anwar Hussain]] (son) [[Nargis Dutt]] (daughter)
}}
'''Jaddanbai''' (1 April 1892 – 8 April 1949) was an Indian singer, music composer, dancer, actress, filmmaker, and one of the pioneers of [[Cinema of India|Indian cinema]]. She along with [[Bibbo (actress)|Bibbo]] and [[Saraswati Devi (music director)|Saraswati Devi]] were one of the first female music composers in Indian cinema. She was the mother of actor [[Anwar Hussain (actor)|Anwar Hussain]] and the well-known [[Hindi cinema|Hindi film]] actress [[Nargis]], and the maternal grandmother of [[Priya Dutt]] and [[Sanjay Dutt]].

== Early life ==
Jaddanbai was born around 1892 to Mian Jaan and Daleepabai.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/a-family-in-films-politics-108010201084_1.html|title = A family in films & politics|newspaper = Business Standard India|date = 2 January 2008|last1 = Bhandari|first1 = Bhupesh|access-date = 16 January 2020|archive-date = 29 March 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200329173306/https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/a-family-in-films-politics-108010201084_1.html|url-status = live}}</ref> Mian Jaan died when she was five. Daleepabai was a well known [[tawaif]] (courtesan) of [[Allahabad]]. Jaddanbai grew up in [[Calcutta]] and later approached Calcutta's Shrimant Ganpat Rao ("Bhaiya Saheb Scindia") and became his student. Shrimant Ganpat Rao died in 1920 while she was still a student.<ref name="GwaliarFamily">{{cite web |url=http://www.royalfamilyofindia.com/gwalior/ |title=GWALIOR - Royal Family of India |access-date=18 April 2017 |archive-date=19 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419100951/http://www.royalfamilyofindia.com/gwalior/ |url-status=live }}</ref> She then completed her training under [[Ustad]] Moinuddin Khan, a Hindustani classical singer and [[thumri]] specialist. Later she also trained with Ustad Chaddu Khan Saheb, Ustad Laab Khan Saheb and [[Barkat Ali Khan]] (brother of [[Bade Ghulam Ali Khan]]).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Jaddanbai |url=https://www.cinemaazi.com/people/jaddanbai |access-date=2025-07-10 |website=Cinemaazi |publisher=Indian Cinema Heritage Foundation |language=en}}</ref>

== Career ==
Her music became popular and she became an even more famous tawaif than her mother.<ref>[https://www.mouthshut.com/blog/1196/NehruGandhi-and-the-Dutts Connections Between The Dutt & Nehru-Gandhi Families] - Mouthshut Reporting</ref> She began recording [[ghazal]]s with the [[Columbia Gramophone Company]]. She started participating in music sessions and was invited by the rulers of many princely states such as [[Rampur State|Rampur]], [[Bikaner State|Bikaner]], [[Gwalior State|Gwalior]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], [[Indore State|Indore]], and [[Jodhpur State|Jodhpur]] to perform [[mehfil]]s. She had also rendered songs and ghazals at various radio stations nationwide.<ref name=":0" />

She later began acting when the Play Art Photo Tone Company of [[Lahore]] approached her for a role in their movie ''Raja Gopichand'' in 1933. She played the role of the mother of the title character. Later she worked for a [[Karachi]] based film company, in ''Insaan ya Shaitan'' (1935).<ref>{{Cite web|author=Avinash Lohana|date=Dec 27, 2016|title=Shabana is Nandita's Jaddanbai|url=https://punemirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/shabana-is-nanditas-jaddanbai/articleshow/56187876.cms|access-date=2020-07-11|website=Pune Mirror|language=en|archive-date=12 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712015622/https://punemirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/shabana-is-nanditas-jaddanbai/articleshow/56187876.cms|url-status=dead}}</ref>

She worked in two more movies, ''Prem Pariksha'' (1934) and ''[[Bazaar-e-Husn|Seva Sadan]]'' (1935), before starting her own production company called Sangeet Films; producing, directing, writing, and composing the music. Becoming one of the first female music composers in Hindi cinema. The company produced ''[[Talashe Haq]]'' in 1935, in which she acted and composed the music. She also introduced her daughter Nargis as a child artist the film under the name "Baby Rani". In 1936 she acted in, directed, and wrote the music for ''Madam Fashion'', in which she introduced [[Suraiya]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ranade|first=Ashok Damodar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZI1wqkWsIjYC&q=Jaddanbai+Nargis+madam+fashion&pg=PA114|title=Hindi Film Song: Music Beyond Boundaries|date=2006|publisher=Bibliophile South Asia|isbn=978-81-85002-64-4|language=en|access-date=22 June 2021|archive-date=30 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030094236/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZI1wqkWsIjYC&q=Jaddanbai+Nargis+madam+fashion&pg=PA114|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

==Personal life==
Her first marriage was to a wealthy [[Gujarati people|Gujarati]] [[Hindu]] businessman Narottamdas Khatri ("Bachhubhai" or "Bachi Babu"). [[Khatri]] converted to Islam upon marriage and together they had a son, Akhtar Hussain.<ref name=":0" />

Her second marriage was to harmonium master Ustad Irshad Meer Khan, her harmonium and tabla teacher and a frequent collaborator, with whom she had her second son, actor [[Anwar Hussain (actor)|Anwar Hussain]].<ref name=":0" />

Her third marriage was to Mohanchand Uttamchand ("Mohan Babu"), a wealthy heir from [[Rawalpindi]] to a [[Mohyal Brahmin]] of [[Saraswat Brahmin]] caste (the same caste of her Son-in-law [[Sunil Dutt]]), who converted to Islam upon marriage
<ref>{{cite news |title= Nargis One of Hindi cinema's brightest stars, seen through 10 images|url=https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/VxGxrl4DUCCYWK6MtEjw1O/Nargis.html%3ffacet=amp|access-date= 25 September 2025|work= Live Mint|date= 6 May 2013}}</ref> and adopted the name Abdul Rashid. Film actress [[Nargis]] (née Fatima Rashid) was their daughter.<ref name=":0" /> She is the mother-in-law of [[Sunil Dutt]] and maternal grandmother of [[Priya Dutt|Priya]] and [[Sanjay Dutt]].<ref name="George1994">{{cite book |author=T. J. S. George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=byBlAAAAMAAJ |title=The life and times of Nargis |date=December 1994 |publisher=Megatechnics |isbn=978-81-7223-149-1}}</ref><ref name="Roy1998">{{cite book |author=Parama Roy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xp82WhOGBnAC&pg=PA156 |title=Indian traffic: identities in question in colonial and postcolonial India |publisher=University of California Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-520-20487-4 |page=156}}</ref>

== Filmography ==
{{One source|date=January 2026}}

=== Film ===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Film !! Role !! Notes
|-
| 1933 || ''Raja Gopichand'' || || Debut
|-
| 1934 || ''Prem Pariksha'' || ||
|-
| 1934 || ''Naachwali'' || ||
|-
| 1935 || ''[[Talashe Haq]]'' || Feeroza ||
|-
| 1935 || ''Insaan Ya Shaitaan'' || ||
|-
| 1935 || ''[[Bazaar-e-Husn|Seva Sadan]]'' || ||
|-
| 1936 || ''Madam Fashion'' || Sheela Devi ||
|-
| 1936 || ''Hriday Manthan'' || ||
|-
| 1943 || ''[[Taqdeer (1943 film)|Taqdeer]]'' || ||
|}

=== Composer ===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Film !! Role !! Notes
|-
| 1935 || ''[[Talashe Haq]]'' || Composer || Becomes one of the First Female Music Composers in Indian Cinema (after actress [[Bibbo (actress)|Bibbo]], who composed the music for ''Adal-e-Jahangir'' in 1934.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fairer sex makes a mark in cinema |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Fairer-sex-makes-a-mark-in-cinema/articleshow/7653209.cms |date=8 March 2011 |accessdate=16 October 2014 |newspaper=The Times of India}}</ref>)
|-
| 1936 || ''Madam Fashion'' || Composer || She acted in the film
|-
| 1936 || ''Hriday Manthan'' || Composer ||
|-
| 1937 || ''Moti Ka Haar'' || Composer || Writer, director
|}

=== Writer ===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Film !! Role !! Notes
|-
| 1935 || ''[[Talashe Haq]]'' || Writer || She also acted in the film
|-
| 1936 || ''Madam Fashion'' || Writer || She acted in the film
|-
| 1936 || ''Hriday Manthan'' || Writer || Screenplay
|-
| 1937 || ''Moti Ka Haar'' || Writer || Screenplay
|-
| 1949 || ''Darogaji'' || Writer || as Bai Jaddan Bai
|}

=== Director ===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Film !! Role !! Notes
|-
| 1936 || ''Madam Fashion'' || Director || She also acted in the film
|-
| 1936 || ''Hriday Manthan'' || Director ||
|-
| 1937 || ''Moti Ka Haar'' || Director ||
|-
| 1937 || ''[[Jeevan Swapna]]'' || Director || as Bai Jaddanbai
|}

=== Producer ===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Film !! Role !! Notes
|-
| 1936 || ''Madam Fashion'' || Producer || She also acted in the film
|-
| 1936 || ''Hriday Manthan'' || Producer || Sangeet Films
|-
| 1937 || ''Moti Ka Haar'' || Producer || Sangeet Films
|-
| 1937 || ''[[Jeevan Swapna]]'' || Producer || Director
|}

== See also ==
* [[Tawaif]]
* [[Nautch]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb name|id=0415274|name=Jaddanbai}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1949 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian businesspeople]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian businesswomen]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian composers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dancers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian screenwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women classical singers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women composers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women singers]]
[[Category:Actresses from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Actresses from Prayagraj]]
[[Category:Actresses from Varanasi]]
[[Category:Actresses in Hindi cinema]]
[[Category:Actresses in Urdu cinema]]
[[Category:Artists from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Artists from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Artists from Varanasi]]
[[Category:Bhojpuri musicians]]
[[Category:Bhojpuri-language playback singers]]
[[Category:Businesswomen from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Businesswomen from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Dancers from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Dancers from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Film directors from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Film directors from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Film producers from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Film producers from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Hindi film producers]]
[[Category:Hindi film score composers]]
[[Category:Hindi-language film directors]]
[[Category:Hindi-language screenwriters]]
[[Category:Hindi-language Indian writers]]
[[Category:Hindustani composers]]
[[Category:Indian courtesans]]
[[Category:Indian female dancers]]
[[Category:Indian film actresses]]
[[Category:Indian filmmakers]]
[[Category:Indian women classical singers]]
[[Category:Indian women film producers]]
[[Category:Indian women playback singers]]
[[Category:Kathak dancers]]
[[Category:Musicians from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Musicians from Prayagraj]]
[[Category:Musicians from Varanasi]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Singers from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Singers from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Women musicians from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Women musicians from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Writers from Prayagraj]]
[[Category:Writers from Varanasi]]

Jaddanbai - Revision history

Dan at 15:35, 7 May 2026