Durga Khote

Durga Khote Biography

Durga Khote one of the foremost leading ladies of her times, she remained active in cinema and theatre over 50 years. Her contribution to Hindi and Marathi movies are immensely huge. She was one among the ladies of yesterdays who entered theatre and movies, a time when both these things witnessed great oppositions from the conservative society of India. India Today, in their millennium edition named her among "100 People Who Shaped India," as it noted that, "Durga Khote marks the pioneering phase for woman in Indian Cinema.” She has been awarded Dada Saheb Phalke Award in the year 1983 for her unparallel contributions to Indian cinema. Her portrayal of Jodha bhai in Mughal-E-Azam is one of the historic moments of 100 years of Indian cinema.

She was born in a traditional Mumbaikar Goud Saraswat Brahmin family. She became widow at the younger age of 26 and to bring up her two children, she entered theatre the time when even female roles were played were men. Durga Khote debut movies with a minor role in a 1931 silent film, ‘Farebi Jaal’ made by Prabhat Film Company. The following year she worked in the movie – Maya machindra. She became the first Marathi heroine to work in a first-ever Marathi talkie (in 1932). The movie was made in Hindi as well as Marathi - Ayodhyecha Raja and this successful movie was the first one where she played the leading lady role where she did the role of Rani Taramati. In 1937, she produced and directed a film titled Saathi, making her one of the first women to step into this role in Indian cinema.

Payachi dasi, Charnon Ki Dasi and Bharat Milap are a few of her movies of 1940’s that were widely appreciated and helped her to earn BFJA Best Actress Award for two consecutive years. She was active in theatre circuit for many years and has worked with Marathi theatre in Bombay and IPTA. She has worked for 200+ movies. A few of her other roles include – Bidhai, Bobby and Abhiman. Her children – Viju Khote and Subha Khote are also popular artists of Indian television.

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Updated: September 18, 2013