Indubālā Debī, Miss Indubala, Indu Bala
Singer and actress
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,[1] 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.[2] She trained as a singer in Calcutta with several teachers, including Gauhar Jaan,[3]Template:Citation not found Kamal Dasgupta, and Kazi Nazrul Islam.[4] 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.[5]Template:Citation not found[6] 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.[7]
Career
Indubala is considered one of the great Bengali women singers.[8][9] She made her first of hundreds of recordings for Gramaphone Records in 1915 or 1916.[10][11] She performed on stage with her mother's company, the Rambagan Female Kali Theatre,[12] and at the 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.[13] In 1936 she was appointed court musician to the Maharaja of Mysore.[14] Beginning in the 1930s she provided 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).[15] She retired from the stage in 1950. She received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1975.[1]
Indubala lived most of her life in the Rambagan neighborhood of Calcutta,[16] 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."[12]
Personal life
After several years of declining health, Indubala died in 1984, in Calcutta, in her mid-eighties.[4] She is one of the title characters of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's short story "Einstein and Indubala" (2016).[17] In 2020 a compilation album of Indubala's recordings was released on vinyl, by Tara Disc.[18]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Scarecrow Press(2013-08-22). ISBN 978-0-8108-8024-5
- ↑ The journal of the ‘Sociely of Indian Record Collectors, Mumbai ’. Record News. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
- ↑ Indubala Devi – the singing sensation of 1915 Calcutta!, Gupta, Debdutta. Get Bengal(17 January 2020). Retrieved 2021-11-14.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 A short biography of Indubala. Record News({Template:Date).
- ↑ Indubala Devi – the singing sensation of 1915 Calcutta!. Getbengal. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
- ↑ 4 - Joyous Courtesan Worlds Amod (Pleasure), Alladi (Indulgence) and Indubala’s Scrapbook. Cambridge University. Retrieved 2025-10-24.
- ↑ 78rpm vintage: Indubala. Indian Raga. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
- ↑ Bengali Culture Over a Thousand Years{{#if:Murshid|, Murshid}. Niyogi Books(2018-01-25). ISBN 978-93-86906-12-0
- ↑ Public Women in British India: Icons and the Urban Stage{{#if:Bhattacharya|, Bhattacharya}. Taylor & Francis(2018-05-15). ISBN 978-0-429-01655-4
- ↑ Noise Uprising: The Audiopolitics of a World Musical Revolution{{#if:Denning|, Denning}. Verso Books(2015-08-01). ISBN 978-1-78168-857-1
- ↑ A Concise History of the Phonograph Industry in India. Popular Music({Template:Date).
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Boundaries of the Self: Gender, Culture and Spaces{{#if:Chakraborti|, Chakraborti}. Cambridge Scholars Publishing(2014). ISBN 9781443860789
- ↑ Miss Indubala. The Indian Listener({Template:Date).
- ↑ "Books Reviewed" The Indian Listener (22 September 1936): 952.
- ↑ South Asian Cinemas: Widening the Lens{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(2018-10-24). ISBN 978-1-317-97729-2
- ↑ Outing Pleasure and Indulgence: Indubala's Scrapbook and the Red-Light Dances of Calcutta. Contemporary Theatre Review({Template:Date).
- ↑ Tales that continue to rankle. The Hindu(2016-04-20). Retrieved 2021-11-15.
- ↑ Miss Indubala – Miss Indubala (1889-1984) (2020, Vinyl).
External links
- Template:IMDb name
- Miss Indubala Raga Bhairavi Coln: Rantideb Maitra, a recording by Indubala, on YouTube