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reportedly cutting his film on the kitchen Saraswati Devi was
table. But as it happens so often, the work hired by Himansu Rai
of wives is never given due credit. of Bombay Talkies to
head the studio’s music
Durgabai Kamat: department. She is best
At a time when men known for her score in
played female roles in the hit Achut Kanya, and her song Mein
films, because women Ban ki Chiriyra Banke Ban Ban Bolun Re
were not allowed to be is an all-time hit.
in this ‘disreputable’
profession, Durgabai Devika Rani:
Kamat. She was Coming from an
introduced by Dadasaheb Phalke in illustrious Bengali family
his second film, Mohini Bhasmasur with Rabindranath
(1913) as the leading lady Parvati, while Tagore as an uncle, and
her daughter Kamlabai played the educated abroad, she
role of Mohini, as the first female child married filmmaker and
actress of Indian cinema. She happens actor Himansu Rai and started acting
to be the maternal grandmother of in his films. Together, they established
actor Chandrakant Gokhale and great- the legendary Bombay Talkies, and she
grandmother of actor Vikram Gokhale. was a much-admired boss. Called the
First Lady of Indian Cinema, she went
Fatma Begum: on to be the first recepient, in 1969, of the
She began her career government’s Dadasaheb Phalke Award
on the Urdu stage and for Lifetime Achievement.
later shifted to cinema.
In 1926, she established Bhanu Athaiya:
Fatma Films which With over 60 years in the
later became known as movie business, Bhanu
Victoria-Fatima Films in 1928, where she Athaiya was possibly
wrote, directed and acted in her own films. the first female costume
She is credited with being the first female designer in Hindi films.
director in Indian cinema, with her 1926 Born in Kolhapur when
film Bulbul-e-Paristan. She went on to it was a rich centre of culture, Bhanu
direct many other films, her last being the studied art in Mumbai and started
Goddess of Luck in 1929. sketching designs for women’s magazines.
Raj Kapoor and other filmmakers of the
Saraswati Devi: time noticed her talent and asked her to
Born Khorshed Minocher-Homji in a design costumes for films. She did the
musically inclined Parsi family, she is costumes for such films as Pyaasa, Kaagaz
considered to be the first female music Ke Phool, Ganga Jumna, Sahib Bibi Aur
composer in Indian cinema, along with Ghulam, right up to Lagaan and Swades.
Jaddanbai (mother of actress Nargis). She won the Oscar for her work on Richard

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