Durga Khote
Khote inPrithvi Vallabh (1943)
Born	Vita Lad (1905-01-14)14 January 1905 Bombay,Bombay Presidency,British India (present-dayMumbai,Maharashtra,India)
Died	22 September 1991(1991-09-22) (aged 86) Bombay,Maharashtra,India (present-dayMumbai)
Education	Cathedral High School
Alma mater	St. Xavier's College, Mumbai (BA)
Occupations	Actress film producer
Years active	1931–1983
Spouse	Vishwanath Khote
Family	Viju Khote (nephew) Shubha Khote (niece) Bhavna Balsavar (grand-niece)
Awards	BFJA Award for Best Actress Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress
Honours	Padma Shri (1968) Maharashtra State Award (1970) Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1983)

Durga Khote (néeVita Lad; 14 January 1905 − 22 September 1991) was an Indian actress, beginning as one of the foremost leading ladies of her time. She remained active inHindi andMarathi cinema, as well astheatre, for over 50 years, starring in around 200 films and numerous theatre productions.

In 2000, in a millennium issue,India Today named her among "100 People Who Shaped India", noting: "Durga Khote marks the pioneering phase for women inIndian Cinema",^[1] she was one of the first women from respectable families to enter the film industry, thus breaking a social taboo.^[2]

She also ranks among the top ten actresses in mother roles inHindi cinema,^[3] most notable among them were asJodhabai inK. Asif'sMughal-e-Azam (1960), which earned her a nomination for theFilmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress; asKaikeyi inVijay Bhatt's classicBharat Milap (1942); her other memorable roles as mother were inCharnon Ki Dasi (1941);Mirza Ghalib (1954);Bobby (1973) andBidaai (1974), winning the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for the lattermost. She has received the highest award inIndian cinema, theDadasaheb Phalke Award (1983), for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema.

Khote was born as Vita Lad to aKonkaniBrahmin family^[4] which hailed fromGoa and spokeKonkani at home.^[5] Her father's name was Pandurang Shamrao Lad and her mother's name was Manjulabai.^[5] She grew up in a largeHindu joint family in Kandewadi. She was educated atCathedral High School andSt. Xavier's College where she studied for aBachelor of Arts degree. While still a college-going teenager, she married into the Khote family and settled down with her husband Vishwanath Khote.^[6]

By the age of 26, Durga Khote was a widowed mother with two young sons; Bakul and Harin. She had to seek work in film to support her children. In doing so, she became a pioneer of sorts: She hailed from a traditional family and the film industry was regarded as the preserve of the base and the bawdy. Also, most of the female characters were played by men at the time.

Durga Khote debuted in a minor role in the obscure 1931 silent filmFarebi Jaal, by thePrabhat Film Company, followed byMaya Machindra (1932). She was soon promoted to play heroine in the 1932 double version (Hindi and Marathi)Ayodhyecha Raja, another Prabhat film, which was the first everMarathi talkie, and proved to be a runaway hit, where she played the role of Rani Taramati.^[7] Indeed, she ventured yet another pioneering trend: Despite working closely with thePrabhat Film Company, she broke away from the "studio system" (exclusive contract with a studio to work in its films on a monthly salary) then in vogue and became one of the first "freelance" artistes of that era by working occasionally with theNew Theatres, East India Film Co. (both at Calcutta), and Prakash Pictures.

In 1936, she played Saudamini inAmar Jyoti, which is one of her most memorable roles.^[8][9] The characters played by her were very much like her regal personality and she commanded a screen presence even in front of legendary actors like Chandra Mohan, Sohrab Modi and Prithviraj Kapoor.^[10]

In 1937, she produced and directed a film titledSaathi, making her one of the first women to step into this role inIndian cinema.^[11] The 40s opened for her in a big way, with award-winning performances in Aachary Atre'sPayachi Dasi (Marathi) andCharnon Ki Dasi (Hindi) (1941) andVijay Bhatt's classicBharat Milap (1942), both of which got her theBFJA Best Actress Award for two consecutive years.

Durga Khote remained active in the theatre circuit for many years, especially theMarathi theatre in Mumbai. She was actively associated with theIndian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and worked in several plays for the Mumbai Marathi Sahitya Sangh. In 1954, she famously performed the role ofLady Macbeth inV.V. Shirwadkar's Marathi adaptations ofMacbeth, asRajmukut,The Royal Crown, along with Nanasaheb Phatak.^[12]

Durga Khote played a wide variety of roles over a career that was not only long, but also untouched by scandal. She was the inspiration for several generations of Indian actresses, including veterans such as the lateShobhna Samarth, who frequently spoke of how she had been inspired by Khote's example.

During later years, she played several important character roles, such as the mother of the protagonist. Her portrayal ofJodhabai, the queen ofAkbar torn between duty towards her husband and love towards her son inMughal-e-Azam (1960) was highly acclaimed and earned her a nomination for theFilmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1963, she acted inMerchant Ivory's debut filmThe Householder (1963).^[13][14]

She went on to play other widely appreciated character roles in later movies, such as the role of the grandmother of the heroine inBobby (1973), the hero's aunt inAbhimaan (1973), and the very memorableBidaai (1974), where she played a mother, which earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Her final memorable role was inSubhash Ghai'sKarz (1980), where she played the role of the mother ofRaj Kiran and later, mother toRishi Kapoor, who played the role of Raj Kiran's reincarnation after the screen death of Raj Kiran in the film.

She acted in over 200 films in her career. By the 1980s she successfully diversified into production of short films, ad films and documentaries by setting up Fact Films and later, Durga Khote Productions, which produced theDoordarshan TV seriesWagle Ki Duniya.

Durga Khote was married when she was a teenager to Vishwanath Khote, of her own caste and similar social background, in amatch arranged by their parents. It was a traditional marriage into an orthodox family, and the couple lived a harmonious and happy life. They had two sons. Vishwanath was a mechanical engineer who had graduated fromBanaras Hindu University. His family was upper middle class, with modern English education and high social standing; his ancestors had been prominent bankers.

Unfortunately, Vishwanath Khote died young, when Durga was 26. She and her sons continued to reside with her in-laws, as is traditional in India, but she was not comfortable with her dependent, especially because her father-in-law was no more, and they were dependent on other family members financially. She thus felt compelled to make a living any which way she could, and the opening in films happened entirely by chance. The fact that she came from a modern and English-educated family meant that, even as a widow, she was able to act in films, which was derided as a disreputable profession in those days.

She thus raised her two sons, Bakul and Harin, single-handedly. Both of them went on to be well-settled in life. But she suffered the loss of her son Harin, who predeceased her and died in his 40s. Harin was married toVijaya Jaywant, and they were the parents of two sons.^[15] After Harin's early death, his widow married aParsi man named Farrokh Mehta and became famous as the film-makerVijaya Mehta.

Durga Khote's grandchildren include her grandson Ravi, a filmmaker; granddaughter Anjali Khote, an actress; and grandson Deven Khote, a successful producer who is one of the co-founders of UTV, and who has also directed a film.^[16] Deven Khote is noted for producing films such asJodhaa Akbar andLife in a Metro.^[17]

Durga Khote's brother-in-law, Nandu Khote (brother of Vishwanath), was a noted stage and silent movie actor. Two of Nandu's children also became actors in the film industry. His sonViju Khote (1941–2019) was an actor perhaps best known for his role of "Kalia" inSholay (1975). Nandu's daughter is the actressShubha Khote, who debuted inSeema (1955) and worked as a heroine in several films before moving to character roles. Still later, she moved to directing and producing Marathi films and also entered television in the '90s. Shubha's daughter,Bhavana Balsavar, is also an award-winning TV actress who appeared in sitcoms likeDekh Bhai Dekh andZabaan Sambhalke before deciding to settle down and raise a family.^[18][19] Thus, the acting profession which was pioneered by Durga Khote in her family has been embraced by her late husband's family.

Durga Khote also had some rather improbable, distinguished relatives with no connection to films. The socialite and politicianSharda Mukherjee (née Sharada Pandit), who herself served as governor of the states ofGujarat andAndhra Pradesh, and who was the wife ofSubroto Mukherjee, India's firstChief of the Air Staff, was Durga Khote's first cousin (her mother's sister's daughter). Sharda Mukherjee's paternal uncle, Ranjit Sitaram Pandit, was the husband ofJawaharlal Nehru's sisterVijayalakshmi Pandit.

Later in life, Durga Khote wrote an autobiography inMarathi, entitledMee, Durga Khote, which was translated into English asI, Durga Khote,^[20] and moved toAlibaug, nearMumbai. Durga Khote died on 22 September 1991.

A postage stamp, bearing her face, was released byIndia Post to honour her on 3 May 2013.

• I, Durga Khote: An autobiography, translated into English byShanta Gokhale (2006);ISBN 978-0-19-567475-0 &ISBN 0-19-567475-8

Wikimedia Commons has media related toDurga Khote.

• Durga Khote atIMDb 
• Durga Khote atRotten Tomatoes

• 1905 births
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• Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award winners
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• Women autobiographers
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