Baby Shakuntala

Baby Shakuntala Biography

Baby Shakuntala was a legendary actress of Marathi screen, who passed away in January, 2015 aged 82. Umadevi Nadgonde, popularly known as Baby Shakuntala, started her film career as a child artist at the age of 6. Prabhat Film Company’s Das Baje was her debut film. After that she acted in nearly 60 movies, belonging to Hindi and Marathi languages. She acted as a bubbly girl in many of her early movies. Her first adult role was in P. S. Arora’s “Pardes” starring Madhubala and Rehman.

Some of her noted films include - “Lahren,” “Seeta Swayambharam”, ”Fareb”, “Ratnagar,” “Jhamela”, “Aboli”, “Santa Bahenabhai”, “Maya Bazaar”, “Nunhe Munhe,” “Bhagyawan” and “Soubhagva”. She retired from film scene in the 1950s. She received Manoos award in 2002, instituted by Rangat-Sangat in memory of the legendary Marathi actor Shahu Modak. She was known as Baby to enter film industry. She quit the film scene at the peak of her career following her marriage to Babasaheb Nadgonde from Kolhapur. She already had 15 Silver jubilees then, when she called it ‘quit’.

She was a single child to her parents, born and brought up in Pune. She was born into a middle-class conservative family. Her father Mahajan worked in a printing press. She studied at the Bhave School, a Marathi school. Her mother knew Damles, owners of the famous Prabhat Studios and that’s how Shakuntala’s entry to films happened at a younger age. She debut with “Das Baje,” which was produced in Marathi and Hindi. 'Ramshastri ‘ released in 1944, followed by 'Sharada' (1951), 'Chimni Pakhare' (1952), 'Aboli' (1953) and 'Maya Bazaar' (1949) established her as a powerful actress. Earlier associated with Prabhat studios, later she worked with Varma Films, for movies like “Pooja,” Dhirubhai Desai’s “Shiv Kanya,” “Bin - diya” and “Biraj Bahu”.

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Updated: January 18, 2016