Tribute to Legendary Movie Queen & Melody Queen Kanan Devi

Kanan Devi, the Evergreen Movie Queen & Melody Queen

Kanan Devi (22 April 1916 – 17 July 1992) was an Indian actress and singer. She was among the early singing stars of Indian cinema, and is credited popularly as the first star of Bengali cinema. Her singing style, usually in rapid tempo, was used instrumentally in some of the biggest hits of New Theatres, Kolkata.

Her father, Ratan Chandra Das, died when she was very young leaving behind many debts with his wife and daughter at the mercy of relatives. Young Kanan and her mother began living in a slum.

At the age of ten she started working in films and missed out on childhood. She was helped by Tulsi Bannerji to get a film role. This was in 1926 in Madan Theatres’ Jaidev. She was hired on a salary of Rs 25 but received only Rs 5. So young and naive was she that she didn’t know what to do with the princely amount. She was more interested in climbing the trees in the studio than acting.

In 1931, she played the lead in JORE BARAT, and a star was born, a star who came to dominate over the Indian screen for the next three decades. Success came gradually and the initial indifference of the industry  gave way to surprise ,astonishment and respect as her value was established beyond doubt.

It was later in 1935, in her first full- fledged role with Jahar Ganguli in Manmayee Girls School, that she hit big time. People fought to touch her image on the screen. After that there was no looking back.

Overnight, she had become a household name. The days of the silent film were over and with the talkies a new era had begun. Kanan Devi was Bengal’s first singing actress. She started studying music under an Ustad. She did everything that would assure her the security of not having to return to the slums.

When she finally acted in a New Theatres production she became a goldmine for Biren Sircar — the man who owned New Theatres. Her films ran to packed houses and her fan following was phenomenal. She had to travel to the studio in a curtained car and under constant protection. She left New Theatres in 1941 and worked for other banners before calling it quits as an actress in 1959. She also produced many Bengali films under her banner Shrimati Pictures between 1949 and 1965.

She worked with all the top actors of the country like K.L. Saigal, Pramathesh Barua, Pahari Sanyal, Chabi Biswas, Ashok Kumar and Uttam Kumar.  Her notable films include  Vidyapati (1937)Street Singer (1938)

Lagan (1941)Jawab (1942)

Even today, her voice can touch the deepest chords of our hearts.As she sings Prabhuji, prabhuji, tum rakho laaj hamari with utter devotion, there is a sense of spirituality which may be lacking in a temple but which predominates in her voice.“Misri mein ghuli hui awaaz hai,” raved composer O.P. Nayyar. “Aisi awaaz hazaro saalon mein na hui hai our na hogi,” was Jaidev’s opinion. Pankaj Mullick, one of her ustads and a composer who trained her very effectively commented that nature went overboard when endowing her voice with such sweetness. Kanan Devi herself acknowledged her debt to Pankaj Mullick: “I studied music from several ustads but what Pankajdada taught me was unique — the inner meaning of the words opened to me, like the morning dawn, and the words and the music became one.”When he passed away Kanan Devi lamented, “Tagore has passed away a second time.”

In the later years of her life she turned to social work. She knew that the world of films was an insecure one and formed the Mahila Shilpi Mahal to assist women artistes in need.

Kanan Devi, as the first lady of the Bengali screen, received many honours for her contribution to Indian cinema. An honorary degree from Vishwabharati, the Padma Shree in 1968 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1976.

She died on 17 July 1992 in Belle View Clinic, Calcutta when she was around seventy-six years of age.

A postage stamp, bearing Kanan's photo, was released to honour her by India’s Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology in February 2011.

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