Today is the 25th death anniversary of Kanan Devi, the popular Actress and Singer of Hindi and Bengali Cinema of the bygone era. Forced to work at a very young age due to indigent circumstances, hers is a fine example of a rags-to riches story. She worked as a child artist in silent movies and debuted at the age of ten when she worked in a film ‘Jaidev’. The next year she appeared in the film ‘Shankaracharya”. Initiated in Bengali cinema,she worked in many Bengali films. In fact her journey with talkies started with Bengali Cinema. Later she worked with big names of Cinema like K.L.Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, , Ashok Kumar and Pahari Sanyal. She acted in Hindi films - Vidyapati, Street Singer,Sapera ,Lagan, Parichay, Jawaab and some others.
She started singing under the tutelage of Rai Chand Boral , who coached her in singing Hindi songs and also taught her the nuances of Western Music.Her duets with K.L.Saigal became very popular She learnt classical music from Ustad Alla Rakha and Rabindra Sangeet from Anadi Dastidar. Her hindi song- Duniya ye Duniya Toofan Mail- became a rage of the times. She turned to producing films in 1949 and made films mainly on the stories of Sharatchandra Chattopadhyay , the doyen of Bengali Literature.
She was a recipient of Padma Shri in 1968 and Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1978.
Our humble tributes !
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