Tribute-Durgabai Kamat-first female actress of Indian cinema 1899-1997

Durgabai Kamat

Durgabai Kamat (1899 – May 17, 1997) was a Marathi actress, who was the first female actress of Indian cinema. 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 to female role in first Indian film, Raja Harishchandra, however with its success, female actress were encouraged, thus he introduced Kamat in his 1913 second movie Mohini Bhasmasur as a leading lady Parvati, while her daughter Kamlabai Gokhale (born Kamlabai Kamat), played the role of as Mohini, thus becoming the first female child actress of Indian cinema. After Kamat other actress started working in cinema.

Durgabai was also the maternal grandmother of veteran Marathi actor Chandrakant Gokhale,[4] and the great-grandmother of actors Vikram Gokhale and Mohan Gokhale.She died on May 17, 1997, in Pune, Maharashtra, at the age of 97.

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