Durgabai Kamat

Durgabai Kamat (c. 1879) was a Marathi actress, who was the first actress in Indian cinema.[1]

Durgabai Kamat
Bornc. 1879
NationalityIndian
OccupationActress
ChildrenKamlabai Gokhale (daughter)
Relatives

Early and personal life

Kamat was born in a Hindu family.[2] She was also the maternal grandmother of veteran Marathi actor Chandrakant Gokhale,[3] and the great-grandmother of actors Vikram Gokhale and Mohan Gokhale.[1]

Career

In the early 1900s, acting in film or theatre was a taboo for women, so much so Dadasaheb Phalke, the father of Indian cinema, had to use male actors for female roles in first Indian film, Raja Harishchandra. However with its success, female actresses were encouraged. Thus he introduced Kamat in his 1913 second movie Mohini Bhasmasur as a leading lady Parvati, while her daughter Kamlabai Gokhale, played the role of Mohini, thus becoming the first female child actress of Indian cinema. After Kamat, other actresses started working in cinema.[4]

Death

Kamat died on 17 May 1997, in Pune, Maharashtra, aged 117.

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1913Mohini BhasmasurParvati

References
  1. "Vikram Gokhale has an illustrious family lineage". The Times of India. 23 January 2013. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  2. "Durgabai Kamat: The First Female Actor In Indian Cinema". Idiva Dot Com. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  3. Veteran actor Gokhale dead, The Times of India, 21 June 2008.
  4. Riya Chakravarty (3 May 2013). "Indian cinema@100: First women on screen: Durgabai Kamat and her daughter Kamlabai Ghokhle". NDTV. Retrieved 9 May 2013.


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