Jamuna Devi (born on
10 October 1919)was married to the legendary actor director Pramathesh Barua,
or P.C. Barua, who died in 1950. She began her acting career in her husband's
famous production Devdas in 1936 and was the film's lead character Parvati or
Paro. She went on to make a number of memorable movies in Assamese, Bengali and
Hindi, notably Amiri, Mukti, Adhikar and Sesh Uttar.
Jamuna was the fourth of the six daughters of Puran Gupta, a
resident of a village near Agra, India. Each of the sisters was named after an
Indian river like Ganga, Jamuna, Bhagirathi etc. As destiny would have it,
Jamuna came to reside in Calcutta, a leading film producing city in India. She
stopped acting after Barua died in 1950.
In the thirties she played a small role in Mohabbat Ki Kasauti
(1934), Hindi version of Rooplekha (Bengali) directed by P.C. Barua.A romance
started although Barua, hailing from the native Indian state of Gauripur,
Assam, was already twice married. As the actress, who was to play Parbati in
Barua's next venture Devdas (1935) reported inability to attend the studio on
the very first day of shooting, Jamuna was called from Barua's residence (she
was living with him by then) and was asked to get down to work straight away
without any preparation whatsoever. Thus she came to be the first Parbati of
Indian talkies- Miss Light had played the role in the silent version of the
enormously popular Sarat Chandra novel. Aishwarya Rai happens to the last so
far and Devdas has been made and re-made a number of times. Jamuna played the
same role in the Hindi version also and was accepted in this very first proper
exposure as an actress in her own right. She continued to act in Barua's films
like Grihadaha (1936), Maya (1936), Adhikar (1939), Uttarayan (1941), Shesh
Uttar (1942), Chander Kalanka (1944) and the respective Hindi versions of each
film. Barua had left the prestigious New Theatres in 1940 and was directing as
well as producing his films. Thereafter she acted in a number of Barua directed
Hindi movies like Amiree, Pehchan and Iran Ki Ek Raat. These films however did
not add to the prestige of either to Barua or to Jamuna. Jamuna also acted
outside Barua direction in three Bengali films Debar (1943) and Nilanguriya
(1943) where she proved herself without Barua's influence. Her last film
Malancha (1953) was also outside Barua's direction. She also starred in its
Hindi version Phulwari (1953). Barua's death in 1951 when he was only 48
changed Jamuna's life altogether. She had three sons by Barua, Deb Kumar, Rajat
and Prasun. They were all minors at the time and the Gauripur estate refused to
take any of their responsibilities. She had to wage a legal battle with the
powerful and influential royal family to get her and her children's dues and
recognition. Time settled the matters and she was allowed ownership of the
house with its vast adjoining land and also an allowance. Jamuna spent the rest
of her life after Barua as a housewife, busy in bringing up her minor sons. She
had to complete the unfinished film Malancha of course but said good bye to the
world soon after. Later in her life she did attend a number of functions to celebrate
the centennial year of husband P.C. Barua and received felicitations on behalf
of the Government of India and the state Government of Assam as the first
Parbati of Indian talkies.
She died on 24 November 2005 at her residence in south
Kolkata.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamuna_Barua
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