Binodini Dasi

Binodini Dasi
Born 1862 (1862)
Died 1941 (aged 78–79)
Other names Notee Binodini
Occupation Drama actress

Binodini Dasi (1862–1941), also known as Notee Binodini, was a Calcutta-based, Bengali-speaking renowned actress and thespian.[1] She started acting at the age of 12 and ended by the time she was 23, as she later recounted in her noted autobiography, Amar Katha (The Story of My Life) published in 1913.[2]

Biography

Born to prostitution, she started her career as a courtesan and at age twelve she played her first serious drama role in Calcutta's National Theatre in 1874, under the mentorship of its founder, Girish Chandra Ghosh.[3] Her career coincided with the growth of the proscenium-inspired form of European theatre among the Bengali theatre going audience. During a career spanning twelve years she enacted over eighty roles, which included those of Pramila, Sita, Draupadi, Radha, Ayesha, Kaikeyi, Motibibi, and Kapalkundala, among others. She was one of the first South Asian actresses of the theatre to write her own autobiography. Her sudden retirement from the stage is insufficiently explained.

Sri Ramakrishna, a saint of 19th century Bengal, came to see her play in 1884.[4] She was a pioneering entrepreneur of the Bengali stage and introduced modern techniques of stage make-up through blending European and indigenous styles.

References

Citation

  1. ↑ Murshid, Ghulam (2012). "Dasi, Binodini". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  2. ↑ "Women on stage still suffer bias: Amal Allana (Interview)". Sify News. 11 March 2010. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
  3. ↑ Bringing alive Binodini Dasi The Tribune, Sunday, 18 November 2007.
  4. ↑ Christopher Pinney, Photos of the Gods p. 42
  5. ↑ Nati Binodini-IMDB
  6. ↑ Romesh Chander (8 December 2006). "Autobiography comes alive : "Nati Binodini", based on Binodini's autobiography "Aamar Kathaa"". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
  7. ↑ "STAGE CRAFT". India Today. 8 February 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
  8. ↑ "Lights, sets, action..: Nissar and Amal Allana's "Nati Binodini" premieres this weekend in Delhi". The Hindu. 24 November 2006. Retrieved 2 April 2010.

Sources

  • DeLamotte, Eugenia C.; Natania Meeker; Jean F. O'Barr (1997). "Binodini Dasi". Women imagine change. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-91531-1.
  • Tharu, Susie J.; Ke Lalita (1991). "Binodini Dasi". Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the early twentieth century. Feminist Press. ISBN 978-1-55861-027-9.
  • Trivedi, Poonam; Dennis Bartholomeusz (2005). India's Shakespeare. University of Delaware Press. ISBN 978-0-87413-881-8.
  • Feldman, Martha; Bonnie Gordon (2006). The courtesan's arts. Oxford University Press US. ISBN 978-0-19-517029-0.
  • Forbes, Geraldine Hancock; Gordon Johnson (1999). Women in modern India. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-65377-0.

Further reading

  • Binodini Dasi: My Story and My Life as an Actress. Edited and translated by Rimli Bhattacharya. New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1998.
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