Kanan Devi

Kanan Devi
Kanan Devi in 1930s
Born	22 April 1916 Howrah, Bengal, British India
Died	17 July 1992 (aged 76) Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Nationality	Indian
Ethnicity	Bengali people
Occupation	Actress

Kanan Devi (Bengali: কানন দেবী) (22 April 1916 – 17 July 1992) was an Indian actress and singer.^[1] She was among the early singing stars of Indian cinema, and is credited popularly as the first star of Bengali cinema.^[2] Her singing style, usually in rapid tempo, was used instrumentally in some of the biggest hits of New Theatres, Kolkata.

Biography

Kanan was born on 22 April 1916 in Howrah, West Bengal. In her autobiography, entitled "Sabaray Ami Nami", Kanan has observed that those she considered as her parents Ratan Chandra Das and Rajobala lived together. After the death of her adoptive father, Ratan Chandra Das, young Kanan and Rajobala were simply left to fend for themselves. Her life story is a true tale of rags to riches. Some say she did her schooling (not completed) from Howrah's St. Agnes' Convent School,

A well wisher Tulsi Banerji whom she called Kaka babu introduced Kanan when she was only ten to Madan Theatres/Jyoti Studios where she was cast in a small role in Jaidev (1926), followed by Shankaracharya in 1927. She was known as Kanan Bala.^[1]

Kanan did at least five films with Madan Theatres productions, (1926-1932) Rishir Prem (1931), Jorebarat (1931), Vishnu Maya (1932) and Prahlad, playing even male leads in the last two.

She then worked with Radha Films from 1933 to 1936, then with New Theatres from 1937-1941, with MP Productions 1942-1948 and finally set up her own label Shrimati Pictures 1949-1965.

From silent film roles as a child artist Kanan made the successful transition into talkie films and was noticed with Jorebarat (1931), Manomoyee Girls School, Khooni Kaun and Maa (1934).

Her films with Jyotish Banerjee included Joydev (1926), Rishir Prem (1931), Jorebarat (1931), Vishnumaya (1932), Kantahaar (1935) and Manomoyee Girls School (1935). Her films with Prafulla Ghosh were Sree Gouranga (1933), Char Darvesh (1933), Maa (1934) and Hari Bhakti. Others with Radha Film Company were Kanthahar (1935), Krishna Sudama (1936), Bishabriksha (1936) and Char Darvesh (1933).

New Theatres's P.C. Barua wanted her to play the lead in his Devdas (1935),^[1] but, due to contractual reasons with Radha, she could not act in the film, a factor she regretted all her life.

The films of New Theatres owned by Biren Sircar established her as a superhit singer and her films ran to packed audiences.^[3] She had to travel under constant protection given her huge fan following. During her years with New Theatres, Calcutta from 1937, she played the lead in Barua's Mukti (1937), which was perhaps her finest performance, making her the studio's top star. Apart from Mukti, she did Vidyapati, Saathi (1938), Street Singer (1938), Sapera (1939), Jawani Ki Reet (1939), Parajay (1939), Abhinetri (1940), Lagan (1941), Parichay (1941) and Jawab (1942). She became known as Kanan Devi from this point.

She came in contact with the music maestro Rai Chand Boral who not only coached and familiarized her in the Hindi accent but experimented with many classical Western and Indian forms in his music. She received her initial musical training under Alla Rakha. She was employed as a singer at the Megaphone Gramaphone Company, receiving further training under Bhishmadev Chatterjee. She later learnt Rabindra Sangeet under Anadi Dastidar. Kanan remained the top star of New Theatres until she resigned her contract in 1941 and began to freelance in Bengali and Hindi films.

She worked with the biggest names in Indian cinema from K. L. Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, Pramathesh Barua, Pahari Sanyal, Chabi Biswas and Ashok Kumar.

M.P. Productions's Jawaab, was perhaps her biggest hit. Her song Duniya Yeh Duniya, Hai Toofan Mail was well received. She repeated the same feast in Hospital (1943), Banphool (1945), and Rajlakshmi (1946). Kanan Devi's last Hindi film was Chandrashekhar (1948) with Ashok Kumar.

Kanan turned producer with Shrimati Pictures in 1949 and later launched the Sabyasachi Collective with the film Ananya (1949). Her own productions were mainly based on the stories of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay.

Kanan married Ashok Maitra in December 1940. He was the son of the staunch Brahmo Samaj educationist Heramba Chandra Maitra. Despite their best intentions, the marriage could not withstand the severe condemnation by the then conservative society. Even the poet Rabindra Nath Tagore who sent a token gift to the married couple received scathing criticism for blessing the couple. The main issue was Kanan was not expected to be working in films after her marriage. She filed for divorce in 1945. Despite the pain of the divorce, Kanan expressed her immense gratitude towards her first husband for giving her social recognition through marriage for the first time in her life. To Kanan's credit she maintained excellent relations with Rani Mahanalobis, sister to Ashok Maitra and her husband the famous social scientist P.C. Mahanalobis and with Kusumkumari Devi, Ashok Maitra's mother, even after the marriage was severed.

Kanan married Haridas Bhattacharjee around 1949. Haridas Bhattacharjee was then ADC to the Governor of Bengal. He eventually left the naval service to join Kanan in her filmmaking venture and became a competent director. While raising their son Siddharth in Calcutta, she also formed and worked as the president of Mahila Shilpi Mahal, an organization to help senior female artists and other charitable and community causes including those for the upliftment of Bengali cinema.

Kanan Devi, as the first lady of the Bengali screen, received many honours for her contribution to Indian cinema. An honorary degree from Vishwabharati, the Padma Shree in 1968 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1976.

She died on 17 July 1992 in Belle View Clinic, Calcutta when she was around seventy-six years of age.

Honour

• 1942-Won BFJA Award-Best Actress Award for Parichaya
• 1943-Won BFJA Award-Best Actress Award for Shesh Uttar

She was awarded the Padma Shree Award in 1968. She was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1976. A postage stamp, bearing Kanan's photo, was released to honour her by India’s Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology in February 2011.

Filmography

Actor

Year	Film Name	Director	Co-star	Remarks
1926	Joydev	Jyotish Bannerji	Actor	1927 Shankaracharya D.G. Kali Prasad
1931	Rishir Prem	Jyotish Bannerji	Actor
1931	Jore Barat	Jyotish Bannerji	Actor	Short
1932	Bishnumaya	Jyotish Bandyopadhyay	Actor
1932	Prahlad	Priyanath Ganguly	Actor
1932	Vishnu Maya	Jyotish Bannerji	Actor
1933	Sree Gouranga	Prafulla Ghosh	Actor
1933	Char Darvesh	Prafulla Ghosh	Actor	Fantasy
1934	Maa	Prafulla Ghosh	Actor
1934	Hari Bhakti	Prafulla Ghosh	Actor
1935	Kanthahaar	Jyotish Bannerji	Actor
1935	Manmoyee Girls School	Jyotish Bannerji	Actor
1935	Basabdatta	Satish Dasgupta	Actor
1936	Bishabriksha	Phani Burma	Actor
1936	Krishna Sudama	Phani Barma	Actor
1936	Khooni Kaun	G. R. Sethi	Actor
1936	Maa	Prafulla Ghosh	Actor
1937	Vidyapati	Debaki Bose	Actor
1937	Mukti	Pramathesh Chandra Barua	Actor
1937	Mukti	Pramathesh Chandra Barua	Actor
1937	Vidyapati in Hindi	Debaki Bose	Actor
1937	Bidyapati (Bengali)	Debaki Bose	Actor
1938	Sathi	Phani Majumdar	Actor
1938	Street Singer	Phani Majumdar	Actor
1939	Sapera	Debaki Bose	Actor
1939	Jawani-Ki-Raat	Hemchandra Chunder	Actor
1939	Sapurey	Debaki Bose	Actor
1940	Parajay	Hemchandra Chunder	Actor
1940	Haar Jeet	Amar Mullick	Actor
1940	Abhinetri	Amar Mullick	Actor
1941	Parichay	Nitin Bose	Actor
1941	Lagan	Nitin Bose	Actor
1942	Shesh Uttar	Pramathesh Chandra Barua	Actor
1942	Jawab	Pramathesh Chandra Barua	Actor
1943	Jogajog	Sushil Majumdar	Actor
1943	Jogajog	Sushil Majumdar	Actor
1944	Bideshini	Premendra Mitra	Actor
1945	Path Bendhe Dilo	Premendra Mitra	Actor
1945	Banphool	Niren Lahiri	Actor
1945	Raj Lakshmi	Premendra Mitra	Actor
1946	Tumi Aar Aami	Apurba Kumar Mitra	Actor
1946	Krishna Leela	Debaki Bose	Actor
1946	Arabian Nights	Niren Lahiri	Actor
1947	Chandrasekhar	Debaki Bose	Actor
1947	Chandrasekhar	Debaki Bose	Actor
1947	Faisla	Apurba Kumar Mitra	Actor
1948	Bankalekha	Chitta Bose	Actor
1948	Anirban	Soumyen Mukherjee	Actor
1949	Ananya	Sabyasachi	Actor
1949	Anuradha	Pranab Roy	Actor
1950	Mej Didi	Ajay Kar	Actor
1952	Darpachurna		Actor
1954	Nababidhan	Haridas Bhattacharya	Actor
1955	Debatra	Haridas Bhattacharya	Actor
1956	Asha	Haridas Bhattacharya	Actor
1959	Indranath Srikanta-O-Annadadidi	Haridas Bhattacharya	Actor

Playback singer

1. Asha (1956) (playback singer)
2. Debatra (1955) (playback singer)
3. Naba Bidhan (1954) (playback singer)
4. Darpachurna (1952) (playback singer)
5. Mejdidi (1950) (playback singer)

1. Ananya (1949) (playback singer)
2. Anirban (1948) (playback singer)
3. Bankalekha (1948) (playback singer)

... aka The Crooked Writing

1. Faisla (1947) (playback singer)
2. Chandrashekhar (1947) (playback singer)
3. Arabian Nights (1946) (playback singer)
4. Krishna Leela (1946) (playback singer)

... aka Radha Krishna Prem ... aka The Story of Lord Krishna

1. Tum Aur Main (1946) (playback singer)
2. Tumi Aar Aami (1946) (playback singer)
3. Ban Phool (1945) (playback singer)
4. Path Bendhe Dilo (1945) (playback singer)
5. Rajlaxmi (1945) (playback singer)
6. Bideshini (1944) (playback singer)
7. Jogajog (1943) (playback singer)
8. Jawab (1942) (playback singer)

... aka Shesh Uttar (India: Bengali title) ... aka The Last Reply

1. Lagan (1941) (playback singer)
2. Parichay (1941) (playback singer)

... aka Acquaintance ... aka Marriage

1. Abhinetri (1940) (playback singer)
2. Haar Jeet (1940) (playback singer)

1. Jawani Ki Reet (1939) (playback singer)
2. Parajay (1939) (playback singer)
3. Sapera (1939) (playback singer)

... aka The Snake-Charmer (India: English title)

1. Sapurey (1939) (playback singer)

... aka The Snake-Charmer (India: English title)

1. Bidyapati (1937) (playback singer)
2. Mukti (1937/I) (playback singer)

... aka Freedom ... aka The Liberation of the Soul

1. Mukti (1937/II) (playback singer)
2. Vidyapati (1937) (playback singer)
3. Bishabriksha (1936) (playback singer)

... aka The Poison Tree

1. Krishna Sudama (1936) (playback singer)

... aka Krishna and Sudama

1. Manmoyee Girls School (1935) (playback singer)
2. Maa (1934) (playback singer)
3. Char Darvesh (1933) (playback singer)

... aka Merchant of Arabia (India: English title)

1. Vishnumaya (1932) (playback singer)

... aka Doings of Lord Vishnu

1. Jore Barat (1931) (playback singer)
2. Prahlad (1931/I) (playback singer)

Producer

1. Abhaya O Srikanta (1965) (producer)

1. Indranath Srikanta O Annadadidi (1959) (producer)
2. Rajlakshmi O Srikanta (1958) (producer)
3. Andhare Alo (1957) (producer)
4. Asha (1956) (producer)
5. Debatra (1955) (producer)
6. Naba Bidhan (1954) (producer)
7. Darpachurna (1952) (producer)
8. Mejdidi (1950) (producer)

1. Ananya (1949) (producer)
2. Bamuner Meye (1949) (producer)

References

1. Ashish Rajadhyaksha; Paul Willemen; Professor of Critical Studies Paul Willemen (10 July 2014). Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. Routledge. p. 88. ISBN 978-1-135-94318-9. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
2. Bengali Cinema, Calcutta Web
3. Ganesh Anantharaman (January 2008). Bollywood Melodies: A History of the Hindi Film Song. Penguin Books India. pp. 3–. ISBN 978-0-14-306340-7. Retrieved 28 February 2015.

External links

• www.kanandevi.com
• Kanan Devi at the Internet Movie Database