To initiate something may either give you loads of appreciation or have you criticized and the scenario takes a double turn when it’s a woman.
Today if we talk about Indian cinema, it just takes a few seconds to recall the names of top actresses and the leading ladies can give life to any scene with their excellence whether it be romance, thriller, or action but many do not know that acting for a woman was considered to be taboo in the ancient times so and so that male actors were assigned to play the roles of female characters and history holds the record when the father of Indian cinema popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke while making his first full – length film Raja Harishchandra had to cast a male for playing the role of Harishchandra’s wife Taramati. The male actors used to wear the costumes of women and come on stage for their performances.
But things changed to some extent with his second film named Bhasmasur Mohini, in which he offered the role of Parvati to Durgabai Kamat and that of Mohini to her teenage daughter Kamlabai Gokhale, establishing both as the first female actress and the first female child-actress of Indian cinema respectively.
It is believed that when Dadasaheb Phalke asked Durgabai to play the role, she hesitated due to fear of society but after looking at the face of her little daughter Kamlabai, she regained her strength and took a big decision and decided to give it a try.
However, her appearance in the film created an uproar all over. Kamat was disowned by her own community for her decision but on a positive note, she was able to break the boundaries made by society that forbade women to make a career in cinema and performing arts or were caught in the clutches of prostitution if they did so. But Durgabai never gave importance to others’ perception of her and continued to work as an actress and her last film came in 1980 named ‘GEHRAI’.