Women have been subjugated and have been stamped as not being fit for many of the areas in every field. Surprisingly, even the Indian cinema which looks so very advance and fashionable have many of the stereotypes against women. Though, slowly a lot of advancement can be seen in the field but in the earlier times, there women have been kept deprived of showing their talents in a variety of areas some of which include stunt, choreography, film editing, cinematography, comedy and many others.
And, in such a milieu, it must have been hard for those really courageous and appreciable women to break these stereotypes. There have been those audacious women in the Indian cinema who have proved that if a women stands string she can do anything.
Here are the names of some of those women who must be celebrated…..
1. Saroj Khan- The First Female Choreographer In Bollywood
Before her it was considered that choreography is not a women’s cup of tea and that only male are fit for the job. Saroj Khan is the first Indian choreographer who proved this wrong and today she holds a name in the field of Hindi cinema choreography. She started her career the age of 3 with the Hindi film Nazarana and had also worked as a background dancer during the time. It was in 1974 that she got her first break as a choreographer in the film, Geeta Mera Naam. She is one of the most acclaimed choreographers on India who had got fame by choreographing Madhuri Dixit and Sri Devi.
2. Durgabai Kamat – The First Female Actor
In the Indian cinema it was not considered good for the women to choose cinema as their career in the earlier period. In that worst scenario, it was Durgabai Kamat who came out courageously to become an actress which was considered ridiculously unsuitable as a career option. The taboo in those was so very strong that Dadasaheb Phalke hired a male actor to act as a female for his first film which was Raja Harishchandra. And, it was after; he roped in Durgabai Kamatfpor his second movie Mohini Bhasmasur.
3. Nargis Dutt- The First Female Actor To Win A National Award
She was the first Indian actress to receive the National film award in the year 1967 for her tremendously swashbuckling performance in the movie Raat Aur Din. Till today she is regarded as one of the most talented actors of the Hindi cinema and the current generation takes inspiration from her style of work. Her debut movie was Talash-E-Haq (1935) in which she acted as a child actor and Tamanna (1942) was her first movie as a leading actress. She is most known for her performance in the movie “Mother India”(1957).
4. Uma Devi Khatri aka Tun Tun- The First Comedienne
Comedy is not a woman’s cup of tea and that does not suit to the personality of a woman but Uma Devi Khatri aka Tun Tun proved this wrong and became the first woman in the Indian cinema to act as a comedian. Her debut movie was Babul (1950) which starred Dilip Kumar and Nargis. She got her name as ‘Tun Tun’ from Dilip Kumar. Namak Halal starring Amitabh Bachhan was her most notable work.
5. Kamlabai Gokhale – The First Female Child Actor
Kamlabai Gokhale was the first female child actress who started her career at the age of 4 and her first movie was in her mother’s movie which was directed by Dadasaheb Phalke. Her last movie was Gehrayee (1980) and had worked in around 35 movies throughout her career.
6. B. R. Vijayalakshmi- The First Female Cinematographer
She is India’s first female cinematographer and not only that she is first woman in Asia who took up cinematography as a challenge. It was in 1985 that she stated her journey as an assistant cinematographer under the guidance of Ashok Kumar in the film Chinnaveedu. She owns to her name 22 feature films!
7. Fatma Begum – The First Female Director
Fatma was the first female director in the Hindi cinema and over the period of time she opened up her own production house named as Farma films. She started her career as a director with the film Bulbul-e-Paristan in the year 1926.
8. Fearless Nadia- The First Stunt Woman
This fearless lady was born in Australia and she shifted India, Mumbai in the year 1913 along with her father. She began her career as a theatre artist and she got to know about the Hindi cinema from the stunt giant the founder of Wadia Movietone. She became famous with her work in the film Khiladi.
9. Rajkumari Dubey- The First Female Playback Singer
Though she started her career in the Hindi cinema as a child actor in the later years she became an acclaimed singer. Some of her best works were Ghabaraa Ke Jo Hum Sar Ko Takraayan in Mahal in the year 1949, Sun Bairi Baalam Sach Bol Re in Bawre Nain in the year 1950 and Najariya Ki Maari in Pakeezah in the year 1972. She had sung songs in almost 100 films.
10. Bhanu Athaiya – The First Woman to win Oscar For Costume Designing
She broke the stereotype to become a fashion designer after working as a freelance fashion illustrator for different magazines. Later on she went on to win a number accolades which included her academic award for the best costume design in the year 1982. She had also worked for various well-known movies including Pyaasa (1957), Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962) and many others.
These women have already proved and rendered in front of the new generation that women is not at all weak and if she shows all her courage she can move any mountain and win any battle. She is not afraid to take up a challenge and start anew something that has never been done.