Women Performing Artists in Colonial India There Were Few Women Painters in Colonial India

I. (A) Personal Details Role Name Affiliation Principal Investigator Prof. Sumita University of Allhabad Parmar Paper Coordinator Prof Rekha Pande University of Hyderabad Author Dr. Archana Verma Independent Scholar Content Reviewer (CR) Prof Rekha Pande University of Hyderabad Language Editor (LE) Prof. Sumita University of Allhabad Parmar (B) Description of Module Items Description of Module Subject Name Women’s Studies Paper Name Women and History Module Name/ Title, Women performers in colonial India description Module ID Paper- 3, Module-30 Pre-requisites None Objectives To explore the achievements of women performers in colonial period Keywords Indian art, women in performance, cinema and women, India cinema, Hindi cinema Women Performing Artists in Colonial India There were few women painters in Colonial India. But in the performing arts, especially acting, women artists were found in large numbers in this period. At first they acted on the stage in theatre groups. Later, with the coming of cinema, they began to act for the screen. Cinema gave them a channel for expressing their acting talent as no other medium had before. Apart from acting, some of them even began to direct films at this early stage in the history of Indian cinema. Thus, acting and film direction was not an exclusive arena of men where women were mostly subjects. It was an arena where women became the creators of this art form and they commanded a lot of fame, glory and money in this field. In this module, we will study about some of these women. Nati Binodini (1862-1941) Fig. 1 – Nati Binodini (get copyright for use – (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Binodini_dasi.jpg) Nati Binodini was a Calcutta based renowned actress, who began to act at the age of 12. She was originally a courtesan, who in 1874, played her first serious role in Calcutta’s National Theatre under the mentorship of Girish Chandra Ghosh. Over a career of twelve years, she played about 80 roles, including many historical characters from India and other cultures. Ramakrishna Paramahans watched her play in 1884. She was a rare woman who penned two autobiographies, based on her life and her acting career. Originally in Bangla, these were translated in the 21st century and published by Kali for Women. Her autobiographies bring to life a section of 19th century Bengal. She has not been talked about in most of the literature on the 19th century Bengal, because it seems that being originally a courtesan, it was not regarded as proper to associate with her by the elite class of the Bengali population. When the theatre ran into trouble, in order to save it, she was persuaded by Girish Chandra Ghosh to become the mistress of a rich Marwari businessman named Gurmukh Rai She agreed on the condition that Gurmukh Rai would construct a new theatre there. He built a theatre and wanted to name it after her, but later it was named Star Theatre. It was mowed down by a builder many years later while widening the road there. At the height of her career, she gave up acting and settled down to a domestic life. But her daughter died at the young age of 11 (Shoma A. Chatterji, http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071118/spectrum/main9.htm). Binodini’s life shows the complexities of a woman in 19th century Bengal who wanted to build an acting career on stage and the struggles she went through because of her origins and not having access to the resources of life. Fatma Begum (1892-1983) Fig. 2 – Fatma Begum (get copyright from - http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/100- years-of-indian-cinema-the-first-women-directors-599939.html) She was the first woman director of Indian cinema. She had trained in acting on the Urdu stage and came into silent films. Her first film was Ardeshir Irani’s Vir Abhimanyu in 1922. She acted, wrote scripts and in 1928 established her own film studio named Fatma Films. In 1928 the name was changed to Victoria-Fatma Films. In 1926, she made Bulbul-e-Paristan and became the first woman director of Indian cinema. She had a relationship with Nawab Sidi Ibrahim Muhammad Yakut Khan III. Her three daughters, Zubeida, Sultana and Shahzadi also acted in films. Zubeida acted in the first Indian talkie film Alam Ara. Apart from directing films, Fatma continued to act in films and acted for Kohinoor Studios and Imperial Studios. Her last film was Duniya Kya Hai (1938) (Rohit Vats - http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/100-years-of-indian-cinema-the-first- women-directors-599939.html). Ruby Meyers/Sulochana (1907 – 1983) Fig. 3 – Ruby Meyers(Sulochana) (get copyright use from - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sulochana_in_the_1920s.jpg) Known as the “Original Anarkali” she acted in three films on this legendary character, the first being in 1928. This was remade in 1935 and again in 1953 she acted in a side role in the film of the same title. She was born in Pune in a family of Baghdadi Jews and became the highest paid stars of the silent era. She changed her name to Sulochana, by which name she became popular. In 1930 she established her own film production house called Ruby Pics. In 1973 she was given the Dada Saheb Falke Award for lifetime achievement in cinema. In 1927 she played eight characters in Wildcats of Bombay including that of a policeman, a gardener, a Hyderabadi gentleman, a banana seller, a street urchin and a European blonde. 1928-29 took her to the peak of her career with three superhit films, the first Anarkali being one of them. Her dance tract from Madhuri from the same time was screened alongside a short film on Mahatma Gandhi in a Khadi Exhibition inauguration. When sound came to the Indian films, she had to take a year off to learn Hindi. She came back after a year and remade Madhuri in 1932, which became a superhit again. Anarkali was remade with sound in 1935 and Wildcats of Bombay was remade in Hindi in 1936, all becoming very popular. Between 1933 and 1939 she worked exclusively with D. Billimoria, but when their relationship faded, it took away their career as well. She left Imperial Studios and began to work in side roles. In 1953, she worked in Anarkali again, but this time as Salim’s mother. At the height of her career, she was drawing a salary larger than the Governor of Bombay. A film named Sulochana was made after her and she acted in it in 1933 (Dinesh Raheja and Jitendra Kothari, The Hundred Luminaries of Hindi Cinema, India Book House Publishers, 1996. P. 1871). Devika Rani (1908-1994) She was the daughter of the first Surgeon general of Madras and was born in Waltair. She spent her childhood in London and received an award in London to study the arts and music. She chose to study textile designing and architecture. She began to make a living at a young age as a textile designer. While in London, she met Himanshu Rai, the noted film producer. He persuaded her to come back to India and work in his films. She assisted him in costume design and in set design and in direction. He had a film studio in Germany called UFA in Berlin. She married him in 1929 and went with him to Berlin to work at UFA. There she learnt costume designing, make up, interior décor, acting and production. She came in contact with great directors of Germany and worked with them. When sound came to Indian cinema, she experimented with him to study the change of techniques required for the talking films. Coming back to India, they made their first talkie film Karma in 1933, which was made simultaneously in Hindi and in English and was simultaneously released in London as well as in India. Karma was received highly by the public of London. The premier was attended by Lord Irwin. With Karma she became a popular star. While in London, she was invited by the BBC to act in their first television broadcast in London. She also inaugurated their first short wave length broadcast in India. In 1934 Devika Rani and Himanshu Rai set up the Bombay Talkies, which produced many popular films. Himanshu Rai attracted the best talents and especially those who were educated, because he believed that education improved the standard of films. He invited experts from France, Germany and England to train young Indians. Bombay Talkies produced many highly acclaimed films and Devika Rani was the star performer in them. Her style of acting and new approach created a distinct tradition in films in those days. She received numerous awards and was acclaimed as the greatest film actress of India. In 1936, Devika Rani and Najm-ul-Hasan worked in leading roles in Jeevan Naiya. They developed a romantic relationship and eloped while the shooting was still on. Himanshu Rai was devastated as money had been taken on credit and without the leading characters, the film couldn’t go on. Shashadhar Mukherjee, an assistant sound engineer at Bombay Talkies had a brotherly relationship with Devika Rani. He persuaded her to return and complete the film. She returned on condition that henceforth, Himanshu Rai would have to bear the household expenses and would have to pay her salary for work. He agreed and she returned to complete the film. Himanshu Rai removed Najm ul Hasan from Bombay Talkies and took in Ashok Kumar, the brother-in-law of Shashadhar Mukherjee as the leading actor. Thus, Ashok Kumar entered his several decades long acting career in an unexpected manner.

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