Wikipedia

Kamlabai Gokhale

Kamlabai Gokhale (born Kamlabai Kamath; 1900 – 17 May 1998) was one of the first actresses in Indian cinema, along with her mother Durgabai Kamat.[2][better source needed]

Kamalabai Gokhale
Portrait of Gokhale
Bornc. 1900
Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India
Died17 May 1998(1998-05-17) (aged 97–98)[1]
Pune, Maharashtra, India
OccupationActress
SpouseRaghunathrao Gokhale
Children3, including Chandrakant Gokhale
ParentDurgabai Kamat (mother)

Personal life

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She was the daughter of Durgabai Kamat and Anand Kamat Nasnodkar, a professor of history at the J.J. School of Art . She married Raghunathrao Gokhale and had three children, Chandrakant Gokhale, Lalji Gokhale and Suryakant Gokhale. Chandrakant Gokhale is the father of Vikram Gokhale (occasionally credited as Vikram Gokhle), a well-known Indian film, television and stage actor. Lalji Gokhale and Suryakant Gokhale were acclaimed tabala maestros.

Kamlabai was 25 when she became a widow, pregnant with her third child.

Career

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Her first stage appearance was at the age of four.

Around 1912-1913, Dadasaheb Phalke, the pioneering film-maker of India, was casting for his film Mohini Bhasmasur and he chose Kamlabai for the lead.[3] Her mother played the role of Parvati. Phalke had been forced to use a young male cook, Salunke, to play the female lead in his earlier film, Raja Harishchandra, because of the lack of an actress.

By the time she was 15, Kamlabai had become a celebrity.

The following year she married Raghunathrao Gokhale. He had been with the Kirloskar Natak Company where he usually performed female roles. However, his voice was breaking, so he moved to his brother's company, which was the same one where Kamlabai and her mother were employed. The young couple was cast as the new lead pair of the company.

In the 1930s, Kamlabai worked under Veer Savarkar in the play Ushaap, which focussed on the plight of Harijans.[4] Kamalabai worked in around 35 movies. Her last film was Gehrayee (1980).

Partial filmography

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References

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  1. ^ "1st screen actress dead". The Times of India. Press Trust of India. Archived from the original on 14 February 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Entertainment Bureau | Kamala Bai Gokhale | First Indian actress". Entertainmentbureau.in. 7 June 2012. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  3. ^ "History of Indian Cinema". Cinemaofmalayalam.net. 21 April 1913. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  4. ^ "First Lady Of The Silver Screen-Struggle, Survival And Success". Indiaprofile.com. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
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