:Binodini Dasi

{{Infobox person

| name = Binodini

| image = Binodini dasi.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date text|1863}}

| birth_place =Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India

| death_date = 12 February, 1941

| death_place = Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India

| othername = Notee Binodini

| occupation = Drama actress

| years_active =

| spouse =

| domesticpartner =

| website =

}}

File:House of Binodini Dasi (Noti Binodini).jpg

Binodini Dasi (1863–1941), also known as Noti Binodini, was an Indian Bengali actress.{{cite book |last=Murshid |first=Ghulam |year=2012 |chapter=Dasi, Binodini |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Dasi,_Binodini |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=Asiatic Society of Bangladesh}} 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.{{Cite book |last=Dasi |first=Binodini |title=My Story and My Life as an Actress |publisher=Kali for Women |year=1998 |location=New Delhi |pages=190 |language=English |translator-last=Bhattacharya |translator-first=Rimli}}{{cite news|url=http://sify.com/news/women-on-stage-still-suffer-bias-amal-allana-interview-news-national-kdlkOidjebg.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811140725/http://www.sify.com/news/women-on-stage-still-suffer-bias-amal-allana-interview-news-national-kdlkOidjebg.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 August 2011|title=Women on stage still suffer bias: Amal Allana (Interview) |date=11 March 2010|website=Sify News|accessdate=2 April 2010}}

Biography

Binodini Dasi was born into a poor family and as a child she followed tawaif Ganga Bai learn music, accompany her for music sessions.She was nine when she first saw a play. Awe-struck by the stage, Binodini Dasi expressed her desire to act.{{cite web | url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/210439/binodini-dasi-theatre-actress-drama-aishwarya-rai-biopic-feminist-wave-india-gop94/ | title=Binodini Dasi, the Trailblazing 'Fallen Woman', Who Inspired a Bollywood Biopic| date=21 January 2020}} She started her career as a tawaif 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.{{cite web | url=https://feminisminindia.com/2019/09/30/courtesan-contribution-hindustani-classical-music-histories/ | title=Courtesan Contribution To Hindustani Classical Music—Lesser Told Histories| date=29 September 2019}}[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071118/spectrum/main9.htm Bringing alive Binodini Dasi] The Tribune, Sunday, 18 November 2007. 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.

Her autobiography has a consistent thread of betrayal. She violates every canon of the feminine smritikatha and wrote down what amounted to her indictment of respectable society.

Ramakrishna, the great saint of 19th century Bengal, came to see her play in 1884.{{cite book |author=Christopher Pinney |author-link=Christopher Pinney |year=2004 |title=Photos of the Gods |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8hhXq7hpzSwC&pg=PA42 |publisher=Reaktion Books |page=42 |isbn=1-86189-184-9}} She was a pioneering entrepreneur of the Bengali stage and introduced modern techniques of stage make-up through blending European and indigenous styles.

In popular culture

In Dinen Gupta's Bengali film Nati Binodini (1994), Debashree Roy played the character.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWSgyAgrW_s|title=Nati Binodini (1994)|website=youtube.com|access-date=1 March 2020}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead YouTube link|date=February 2022}}
Nati Binodini, a play based on her autobiography, Aamar Kathaa was first presented by National School of Drama Repertory Company in 1995 with the lead role played by actor, Seema Biswas, then in 2006, noted theatre director Amal Allana directed a play by the same name which premiered in Delhi.{{cite news|url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2006/12/08/stories/2006120801500300.htm|title=Autobiography comes alive : "Nati Binodini", based on Binodini's autobiography "Aamar Kathaa"|author=Romesh Chander|date=8 December 2006|work=The Hindu|accessdate=2 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606125042/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2006/12/08/stories/2006120801500300.htm|archive-date=6 June 2011|url-status=usurped}}{{cite web|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/4376/Woman/Armed+to+go.html|title=Stage Craft|date=8 February 2008|work=India Today|accessdate=2 April 2010}}{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/fr/2006/11/24/stories/2006112401170300.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401160146/http://www.hindu.com/fr/2006/11/24/stories/2006112401170300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 April 2012|title= Lights, sets, action..: Nissar and Amal Allana's "Nati Binodini" premieres this weekend in Delhi. |date=24 November 2006|work=The Hindu|accessdate=2 April 2010}}
In Abohomaan (2010), directed by Rituparno Ghosh, the role of Binodini was essayed by Ananya Chatterjee.
In Kadambari (2015), directed by Suman Ghosh, the role of Binodini was essayed by Sreelekha Mitra.{{Cite news |title=In Pics: Konkona as Kadambari Debi, Parambrata as Rabindranath Tagore |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali/movies/news/in-pics-konkona-as-kadambari-debi-parambrata-as-rabindranath-tagore/articleshow/46394741.cms?from=mdr |access-date=2023-02-13 |issn=0971-8257}}
In Prothoma Kadambini, Diya Mukherjee portrayed the role of Nati Binodini.{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tv/news/bengali/diya-mukherjee-joins-the-cast-of-prothoma-kadambini/articleshow/79407400.cms|title=Diya Mukherjee joins the cast of 'Prothoma Kadambini' |date=25 November 2020|work=The Times of India|access-date=14 December 2020}}
Tuhinabha Majumdar directed Aamaar Katha: Story of Binodini, a documentary based on her autobiography.{{Cite web|url=https://filmsdivision.org/shop/aamaar-katha-story-of-binodini|title = Aamaar Katha: Story of Binodini | Films Division}}
In her biopic titled Binodiini: Ekti Natir Upakhyan, directed by Ram Kamal Mukherjee, the role of Binodini was essayed by Rukmini Maitra.{{Cite magazine |last=Ramachandran |first=Naman |date=2022-09-05 |title=Rukmini Maitra to Lead Ram Kamal Mukherjee's Bengali Theater Actor Biopic 'Binodiini' (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2022/film/global/rukmini-maitra-bengali-theater-actor-biopic-binodiini-1235359667/ |access-date=2023-02-05 |magazine=Variety |language=en-US}}

References

= Sources =

{{cite book |last=Spinazzola |first=Joe |year=1997 |chapter=Binodini Dasi |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y91tJFn5ejkC&pg=PA167 |editor1-last=DeLamotte |editor1-first=Eugenia C. |editor2-last=Meeker |editor2-first=Natania |editor3-last=O'Barr |editor3-first=Jean F. |title=Women Imagine Change |publisher=Routledge |pages=167–170 |isbn=978-0-415-91531-1}}
{{cite book |chapter=Binodini Dasi |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u297RJP9gvwC&pg=PA290 |editor1-last=Tharu |editor1-first=Susie J. |editor1-link=Susie Tharu |editor2-last=Lalita |editor2-first=Ke |year=1991 |title=Women Writing in India |volume=I |publisher=The Feminist Press |pages=290–296 |isbn=978-1-55861-027-9}}
{{cite book |last=Trivedi |first=Poonam |author2=Dennis Bartholomeusz |title=India's Shakespeare |publisher=University of Delaware Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-87413-881-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n5lKp1XE2OQC}}