Maleeha at 05:47, 13 December 2024

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{{Short description|Singer, actor, director and owner of the Parsi theatre company in India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Kavasji Palanji Khatau
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1857
| birth_place = [[Bombay]], [[British India]]
| death_date = 16 August {{death year and age|1916|1857}}
| death_place = [[Lahore]], British India
| occupation = Stage actor, director, manager
| years_active = 1875–1916
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| father = Palanji
| mother =
| spouse = [[Mary Fenton]]
| children = Jahangir Khatau
}}
'''Kavasji Palanji Khatau''', also spelled '''Cowasji Palanji Khatao''' (1857 – 16 August 1916) was a singer, actor, director, and owner of a [[Parsi theatre]] company, who started his career with the Empress Victoria Theatrical Company. Despite opposition from his employers, he introduced [[Mary Fenton]], his wife and the first Anglo-Indian actress,<ref name="Hansen2013" /> to the stage. This led him to start his own company, the Alfred Theatre Company, where he, his wife, and other actors had successful careers.<ref name="Hansen2013">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M7JEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA10|title=Stages of Life: Indian Theatre Autobiographies|last=Hansen|first=Kathryn|date=1 December 2013|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=978-1-78308-068-7|pages=10–11, 16, 19, 54, 292, 340}}</ref>

==Life==
Khatau was born into a poor [[Parsi]] family in 1857, and brought up in a house opposite the Dukkar Bazar (pig market)<ref name=":NewAlfredCompany">{{Cite web|url=http://www.warrensenders.com/journal/78-rpm-records-of-indian-music-sorabji-katrak-of-the-new-alfred-company/|title=78 rpm Records of Indian Music: Sorabji Katrak of the New Alfred Company « Running Gamak: Warren Senders' Blog|website=www.warrensenders.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-07-31}}</ref> in the [[Dhobitalao|Dhobi Talao]] area of [[Bombay]] (now Mumbai).<ref name="Hansen2013" /><ref name="Bhojak 2004" /><ref name="Bhojak 1993">{{Cite book|title=ગુજરાતી વિશ્વકોશ|last=Bhojak|first=Dinkar|publisher=Gujarati Vishwakosh Trust, Ahmedabad|year=1993|editor-last=Thaker|editor-first=Dhirubhai|editor-link=Dhirubhai Thaker|volume=V|location=[[Ahmedabad]]|pages=678|trans-title=Gujarati Encyclopedia}}</ref> He was an avid reader in childhood and could read and recite [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s plays. He started acting in 1875 and subsequently caught the attention of Jehangir Pestonjee Khambatta, who owned the Empress Victoria Theatrical Company. Khatau joined the Company in 1877 following which Khambatta taught him stagecraft.<ref name="Bhojak 2004">{{Cite book|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195644463.001.0001/acref-9780195644463-e-0284#|title=Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre|last=Bhojak|first=Dinkar J.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|isbn=9780195644463|editor-last=Lal|editor-first=Ananda|language=en|chapter=Khatao, Cowasji Palanji|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195644463.001.0001|via=Oxford Reference|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Bhojak 1993" />

Khatau was rehearsing for his play ''[[Inder Sabha]]'' when Mary Fenton, a daughter of an Irish soldier in the British Indian Army, had come to book the hall for her [[magic lantern]] show. She admired his acting, met him, fell in love and finally married him.<ref name="Stri"/> Fenton subsequently adopted the Parsi name of Mehrbai.<ref name="Hansen2013" /><ref name="Kosambi2017">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ey8rDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA27|title=Gender, Culture, and Performance: Marathi Theatre and Cinema before Independence|last=Kosambi|first=Meera|date=5 July 2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-351-56590-5|page=27}}</ref> Khatau then trained her in singing and acting in the 1870s.<ref name="Hansen2013" /><ref name="Stri"/>

Fenton created a sensation in the theatre due to her talent and relationship with Khatau. However, a dispute arose between Khatau and Khambatta regarding her entry into theatre. Khatau therefore left [[Bombay]] for [[Delhi]] and joined the Alfred Theatre Company, owned by Manek Master who also opposed Fenton. As a consequence, in 1881, Khatau left and started his own Alfred Theatre Company with others, following which Fenton had a long and successful career.<ref name="Bhojak 2004" /><ref name="Bhojak 1993" /><ref name="Stri"/> It was later renamed the New Alfred Company.<ref name=":NewAlfredCompany"/> Fenton and Khatau later separated. They had a son Jahangir Khatau who took over the Company and kept it operational until 1932.<ref name="Hansen2013" /><ref name=":NewAlfredCompany"/><ref name="Stri">{{Cite journal|last=Hansen|first=Kathryn|date=1998|title=Stri Bhumika: Female Impersonators and Actresses on the Parsi Stage|url=https://www.academia.edu/5889371|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=33|issue=35|pages=2293|jstor=4407133|via=Academia}}</ref><ref name="Make">{{Cite journal|last=Hansen|first=Kathryn|date=1999|title=Making Women Visible: Gender and Race Cross-Dressing in the Parsi Theatre|url=https://www.academia.edu/5680379|journal=Theatre Journal|volume=51|issue=2|pages=141, 143–146|doi=10.1353/tj.1999.0031 |jstor=25068647|s2cid=192100757 |via=Academia}}</ref>

Fenton acted in Nanabhai Ranina's ''Nazan Shirin'' (1881), Bamanji Kabra's ''Bholi Gul'' (Innocent Flower, 1882, based on [[Ellen Wood (author)|Ellen Wood]]'s English novel ''[[East Lynne]]''), [[Agha Hasan Amanat]]'s [[Urdu]] opera ''[[Inder Sabha]]'', Khambatta's ''Khudadad'' (The Gift of God, 1898, based on [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Pericles, Prince of Tyre]])'',<ref name="TrivediBartholomeusz2005">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n5lKp1XE2OQC&pg=PA272|title=India's Shakespeare: Translation, Interpretation, and Performance|last1=Trivedi|first1=Poonam|last2=Bartholomeusz|first2=Dennis|publisher=University of Delaware Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-87413-881-8|page=272}}</ref> ''Gamde ni Gori'' (Village Nymph, 1890), ''Alauddin'' (1891), ''Tara Khurshid'' (1892), ''Kaliyug'' (1895)<ref name="Stri"/><ref name="Make"/> and [[Kālidāsa|Kalidasa]]'s Sanskrit play ''[[Shakuntala (play)|Shakuntala]]''; many produced by his Alfred Company.<ref name="Bhojak 2004"/>

The Alfred Company had several popular actors like Sohrabji Oghra, [[Amrit Keshav Nayak]], and Vallabh Keshav Nayak who performed adaptations of Shakespeare's plays. Syed Mehdi Hasan Ahsan's ''Khun-e-Nahaq'' (Unjustified Murder, 1898, based on ''[[Hamlet]]'') brought Khatau recognition and he came to be known as "India's [[Henry Irving|Irving]]" by viewers.<ref name="Bhojak 2004"/>

At one time he managed and significantly influenced [[Narayan Prasad Betab]],<ref name="Hansen2013" /> a future prominent Parsi playwright.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195644463.001.0001/acref-9780195644463-e-0053|title=Betab, Narayan Prasad - Oxford Reference|year=2004 |language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195644463.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-564446-3 |access-date=2018-07-31}}</ref> He was also a musician and his songs for ''Alibaba'' became popular.<ref name="Shastri 1995">{{Cite book|title=પારસી રંગભૂમિ|last=Shastri|first=Dr. Gopal|publisher=Sadhna Shastri|year=1995|location=[[Vadodara]]|pages=69–70|language=gu|trans-title=Parsi Theatre}}</ref>

He was honoured for his contribution to Gujarati and Urdu theatre in 1908. He died on 16 August 1916 on a tour in [[Lahore]].<ref name="Hansen2013" /><ref name="Bhojak 2004"/><ref name="Shastri 1995" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khatau, Kavasji Palanji}}
[[Category:Indian male stage actors]]
[[Category:Indian theatre directors]]
[[Category:Indian male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Indian male musical theatre actors]]
[[Category:Gujarati theatre]]
[[Category:1856 births]]
[[Category:1916 deaths]]
[[Category:Parsi people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male actors]]
[[Category:People from Bombay Presidency]]
[[Category:Urdu theatre]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian male actors]]
[[Category:Male actors from British India]]
[[Category:Dramatists and playwrights from British India]]

Kavasji Palanji Khatau - Revision history

Maleeha at 05:47, 13 December 2024