SUNDAY SPECIAL: UNTOLD STORY OF INDIA'S FIRST ACTRESS - BINODINI

Copyright © Arth Chakraborty

Today I would like to throw light on and elucidate a lesser known fact about our Indian Cinema. If searched on google, India's First female actor is displayed as - Durga Bai Kamat; but it is totally untrue. India's first female actress was Binodini. Though not a part of Cinema but the earliest of drama artist was Binodini. The evidence of Binodini being the first actress have been declassified with the following facts.

The First Indian Female Actor & Worldwide acclaimed Great Thespian -Binodini 

Binodini Dasi, popularly known as Notee(Notee means Actress in Bengali) Binodini was born in 1862, in a poor family, in a suburb of Kolkata (Calcutta) inhabited mainly by sex workers. She went to school for a few days. She had an indomitable zeal to know and read everything. She also learnt fluent english in a very early childhood. As a child, she learnt to sing and dance from a baiji named Gangabai. To overcome financial difficulties, she was allowed to act by her family.

Advent Of First Indian Woman In Theatrical Art:

Binodini in 'Bibaha Bibhrat'

Binodini was a Bengali Woman and is the Greatest Thespian the world has ever witnessed. She started her career in acting at the tender age of 12, when she made her debut in a serious drama role in Shatrusanghar i.e. "Slaying the Enemy" on 2 December 1874 playing the role of Draupadi's friend at the Great National Theatre and finally came to be known as the most famous actress of the nineteenth century. Her photographs are there too, and what’s more, a sketch that Satyajit Ray had made of her.

It is considered that she was born in 145 Bidhan Sarani and a plaque on the sideway also claims the same.

After two years, she joined the Bengal Theatre for a brief stint and then rejoined the National Theatre for a much longer period of six years. There, she came in touch of her mentor - the great playwright and thespian - Girish Chandra Ghosh, who taught her the skill of acting.

Binodini in male attire for 'Sarat-Sarajini'

Binodini's Acting Career

During a dazzling career spanning twelve years she enacted around 90 roles in more than 50 plays, which included among others, Pramila, Sita, Draupadi, Radha, Motibibi, Kapalkundala, Ayesha in Durgeshnandini, both Kundanandini and Suryamukhi in Bishbriksha, Uma Agomoni, Gopa in Buddhadeb and the others. Through these, she made women's participation on the stage acceptable to the society and advanced the cause of the Bangla theatre.

Star Theatre at Kolkata

The Great Playwright and Thespian - Girish Chandra Ghosh

Creation Of Star Theatre By Binodini:

When Girish Ghosh left National Theatre to form a theatrical group called Calcutta Star Company, Binodini stood by him. As a huge sum of money was required to build a new theatre, Binodini's contribution was the greatest. She was given assurance that the new theatre would be named 'B- Theater', after the initial of her name. However, she was betrayed and the promise was not kept, the theatre was opened on 21 July 1883 as the Star Theatre, since her co actors openly protested the idea of naming the theatre after her initials, calling her "Abhadramahila". Despite the insult and humiliation, Binodini performed in the debut show of the theater and enacted the role of Sati in Daksha Yajna', with Girish Chandra as Daksha and Amrit Lal Mitra as Mahadev.

Three Most Prominent Personalities who witnessed Binodini's acting in Chaitanya Leela.
Left- Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay; Center- Sri Ramkrishna Paramhansha; Right- Swami Vivekananda

On 7 October 1885, Ramkrishna Paramahansha, the most revered Hindu religious guru of the 19th century, came to watch her performance in the role of Chaitanya, in Chaitanya leela and her performance made him spellbound and impressed so much so that he went down to the stage to meet Binodini and blessed her addressing her as "Ma", sanctifying her of all the societal impurities hurled upon her. When Paramahansha was about to enter his carriage, he was asked how he liked the play and to this he said with a smile,"I found the representation same as the real". Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay also came to watch her perform and was highly in praise of her, as was Swami Vivekananda. Their visits were significant socially, because they thus gave approval to women's acting on the stage. On the deathbed of Sri Ramkrishna Paramahansha, Binodini went to meet him in the guise of hat-coat. He smiled at her.

Girish Ghosh and Binodini during a performance

She last enacted the role of Rangini in the play "Bellick Bazaar" at the Star Theatre on 1 January 1886 and quit theatre at the age of 24 despite having enormous popularity. The periodicals of those times, called her "Flower Of The Native Stage", "Prima Donna Of The Bengali Stage", "Moon Of Star Company", but did not exaggerate at all.

This plaque is unkempt. It is evident that, there is hardly any interested person or party to take care of the building, where the great lady was born, who is intimately connected with the history of not just Bengali theatre but also History of Indian Cinema.

Binodini As Pioneering Entrepreneur Of Beauty and Fashion

She was a pioneering entrepreneur of the Bengali stage and introduced modern techniques of stage make-up through blending European and indigenous styles. She had extraordinary craftsmanship and authority in cosmetics. Binodini learnt cosmetics from English theater books and various indigenous paintings. Thereafter actresses who joined theatre during those times imitated Binodini's dressing style as well as every other beautification detail from her.

Binodini in later years of her life.

Binodini, The First South Asian Actress Turned Acclaimed Writer

She was one of the first South Asian actresses of the theatre to write her own autobiography titled - "Āmār Kathā"(My Story) which published in 1913. She mentioned about her mother and grandmother. She had also mentioned she had a sister and a brother who died due to illness in childhood. In it she frankly unfolded her life, which has a consistent thread of betrayal including how she was loved, loathed, betrayed and exploited by men. She wrote it in simple, yet attractive language, and it has established its due place in the history of Bengali autobiographical literature. She made indictments on the so called respectable society which called her a "characterless woman" just because it was forbidden for women of those era to sing, dance or act.

This is the place where Binodini spent her last days in a building, located on a lane adjacent to the Star Theatre and is known as Nati Binodini Sarani. Earlier, it was known as Rajabagan Street, named after the sprawling garden house of Raja Rajballabh.

Binodini not only wrote autobiographies, but also poems and plays in various periodicals of that time. As a writer, Binodini had a lot of power in her prose and poetry. Her ability to tell stories were outstanding. Her first poem was published in 1895 in Sourav Patrika. Then in 1896, her first book of poetry "Basna"(Desire) was published and in 1905, her second book of poetry "Kanak O Nalini" was published. By the year 1924-25, her another autobiography "Āmār Abhinetri Jibon"(My Life As An Actress) was published in "Roop O Rang" but it remained somewhat incomplete.

She also established herself as a singer when a Gramophone Company recorded her songs.

India's First Filmmaker - Hiralal Sen

After Binodini left her theatrical life, the first Indian who marked the beginning of Indian cinema was Hiralal Sen(1866-1917) who made the first feature film in 1903 named "Alibaba and 40 Thieves". So, officially the Father Of Indian Cinema is Hiralal Sen and not Dada Saheb Phalke who made the feature film "Raja Harishchandra" in 1913, exactly 10 years after Hiralal Sen. Hiralal Sen's unrevealed facts will be posted on our next Sunday Special.

Binodini passed away at the age of 79 in the year 1941. During her life time Binodini changed her residence several times mainly because of the narrow mindedness of people those days. Even today, people's lewd and dirty mindset and actions have created boundaries for women.

Some unproven mentions about Binodini are:

• Just because she was born in an area where there were sex-workers, she was also termed by people of the society as a "prostitute".

• In concoctions it is said that she was married at the age of 5 but had no connection with her husband.

• Another concoction says she had to become successively mistress of three men, the last one sheltering her for 29 years.

• It is said that, for Star Company, Binodini had made personal sacrifice, as she had to leave her patron whom she loved dearly and had to become the mistress of a young affluent Marwari, Gurmukh Roy, who agreed to finance the new theatre in return.

Now is the time to bring the TRUTH INTO LIGHT & UNVEIL FACTS! So we the citizens of India must pay our deepest respect to Binodini who set the Landmark of Indian Cinema and created a Revolution in Indian History.

Infringement Of This Article Must Not Be Made.

Copyright © Arth Chakraborty

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