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Dina Pathak

{{Short description|Indian actress (1922–2002)}}

{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Dina Pathak

| image =

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1922|3|4}}

| birth_place = Amreli, Baroda State, British Raj (now in Gujarat, India)

| height =

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2002|10|11|1922|3|4}}

| death_place = Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

| yearsactive = 1948–2002

| spouse = Baldev Pathak

| children = Supriya Pathak Kapur
Ratna Pathak Shah

| relatives = Pathak family

| birthname = Dina Gandhi{{cite web |url=http://www.sangeetnatak.com/programmes_recognition&honours_drama.html |title=Sangeet Natak Akademi Honours |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071123183307/http://www.sangeetnatak.com/programmes_recognition%26honours_drama.html |archive-date=23 November 2007 }}

| othername =

| homepage =

| awards = Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1980)
Government of Gujarat's Merit Award (Theatre) for (2000–2001)[https://web.archive.org/web/20121103093438/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2001-11-08/ahmedabad/27218362_1_govt-award-sports-award-arts-award Govt award for Dina Pathak] The Times of India, 8 November 2001.

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Dina Pathak (née Gandhi; 4 March 1922 – 11 October 2002) was an Indian actress and director of Gujarati theatre and also a film actor. She was an activist and President of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW).[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20000203/punjab.htm#9 Need to make women aware: Dina Pathak] The Tribune, 3 February 2000.[http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99may01/cth1.htm Women panels 'toothless'] The Tribune, 1 May 1999.

A doyenne of Hindi and Gujarati films as well as theatre, Dina Pathak acted in over 120 films in a career spanning over six decades. Her production Mena Gurjari in Bhavai folk theatre style, ran successfully for many years, and is now a part of its repertoire.Brandon, p. 83

She is best known for her memorable roles in the Hindi films Gol Maal and Khubsoorat. She was a favourite of the Art Cinema in India where she played powerful roles in films like Koshish, Umrao Jaan, Mirch Masala and Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho!.[https://archive.today/20130628041139/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2002-10-11/news-interviews/27317077_1_gujarati-films-dina-pathak-veteran-actress Veteran actress Dina Pathak passes away] The Times of India, 11 October 2002.

Her notable Gujarati films were Moti Ba, Malela Jeev and Bhavni Bhavai, while her well-known plays include Dinglegar, Doll's House, Vijan Sheni and Girish Karnad's Hayavadana, directed by Satyadev Dubey.

Early life

Dina Pathak was born in Amreli, Gujarat on 4 March 1922. She was enamoured of fashion and films, and while a teenager, started acting in plays and won acclaim from critics.{{Cite book |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195644463.001.0001/acref-9780195644463-e-0480 |title=The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre |last=Baradi |first=Hasmukh |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=0195644468 |editor-last=Lal |editor-first=Ananda |location=New Delhi |oclc=56986659 |via=Oxford Reference}} She attended and graduated from a college affiliated to the University of Bombay (Mumbai). Rasiklal Parikh trained her in acting while Shanti Bardhan taught her dancing.

At a young age, she joined the Indian National Theatre as an actress. She became known for her student activism, where Bhavai theatre, a folk theatre form from Gujarat, was used extensively to create awareness about the British rule, in the pre-independence era; this led to her close association with Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA),[http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99jun11/art-trib.htm#1 "The Grand Dame of Indian Cinema"] The Tribune, 11 April 1999 along with her elder sister Shanta Gandhi and younger sister Tarla Mehta; while in Mumbai, she had an important hand in reviving the Gujarati theatre there, along with fellow Gujarati actors like Kailash Pandya and Damini Mehta.[http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=32202 "Veteran actress Dina Pathak passes away"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040712135350/http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=32202 |date=12 July 2004 }} The Indian Express, 12 October 2002.

Career

She created quite a stir with her plays in Gujarat in the 1940s. The audience queued up to watch her play the lead in Mena Gurjari, which is still one of the most popular Bhavais along with sister Shanta Gandhi's Jasma Odhan.{{cite news |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060611/spectrum/main2.htm |title=From Gujarat with grace |date=11 June 2006 |work=The Tribune}} In 1957, when she performed Mena Gurjari in front of then-President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi, it became the first and the only Gujarati play to have achieved the feat so far.{{cite news |title=Reliving the past of Gujarati Rangbhoomi |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Reliving-the-past-of-Gujarati-Rangbhoomi/articleshow/19233223.cms |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615195310/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-03-27/ahmedabad/38069233_1_world-theatre-day-costumes-villages |url-status=live |archive-date=15 June 2013 |date=27 March 2013 |work=The Times of India |access-date=15 May 2013}}

Although she made her film debut with a Gujarati film, Kariyawar (1948), she returned to theatre after acting in just one film. She continued playing to packed audience in plays by Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and Shanti Bardhan's Ballet troupe.{{cite web |url=http://pprabhu.com/entertainment/remembering-dina-pathak.html |title=Remembering Dina Pathak |access-date=11 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212024710/http://pprabhu.com/entertainment/remembering-dina-pathak.html |archive-date=12 December 2007 }} Later she formed her own theatre group in Ahmedabad called "Natmandal",{{cite web |url=http://www.glamsham.com/dramas/interviews/shaili_sathyu.asp |title=Shaili Sathyu |access-date=11 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193525/http://www.glamsham.com/dramas/interviews/shaili_sathyu.asp |archive-date=3 March 2016 }} even today, she is remembered as a stalwart performer and a theatre activist at IPTA.{{cite web |url=http://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com/dramas/groups/ipta.asp |title=IPTA |access-date=11 March 2015}}

In her mid-40's, she made a comeback to films, two decades after her debut, with Basu Bhattacharya's Uski Kahani (1966), for which she won the Bengal Journalists Association Award. She made four films in the 1960s, including Hrishikesh Mukherjee's classic Satyakam (1969), Saat Hindustani (1969), starring Amitabh Bachchan in his debut role and the Merchant Ivory Productions, The Guru (1969). By the 1970s, she had become a favourite of art and commercial films alike, playing powerful motherly and grandmotherly roles. It was in these films that she became recognised as the Grand-Old-Mother of Hindi films.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}

Films that stand out in this era are Gulzar's Mausam (1975), for which she earned her first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress, Kinara (1977) and Kitaab (1977), and sweet comedies like Basu Chatterjee's Chitchor (1976), Gharaonda (1977) and also in an art cinema classic, Shyam Benegal's Bhumika (1977), which saw her standing tall alongside another acting legend, Smita Patil, in her career's best performance.

Just as the 1970s ended, she was seen in the comedy classic, Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Gol Maal (1979), where she essayed the role of Kamala Shrivastava, a middle-aged woman who sportingly plays mother to Amol Palekar, who went on to direct her in his 1985 film, Ankahee. The next decade began with another career-best performance, as a stern disciplinarian matriarch in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Khoobsurat in (1980), closely followed by Bhavni Bhavai (1980). She earned two nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the former two films. In 1980, she was also awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. During the '80s, she also appeared on the popular TV series, Malgudi Days. In 1984, she appeared in A Passage to India. She gave powerful performances in Ketan Mehta's Mirch Masala (1985), Govind Nihalani's Tamas (1986) and once again she worked with Gulzar in Ijaazat (1987).{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Perhaps her career's best came in another comedy when she appeared in Deepa Mehta's Bollywood/Hollywood (2002) for which she was nominated for Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 23rd Genie Awards.[https://web.archive.org/web/20121021143916/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2003-01-03/news-interviews/27263557_1_deepa-mehta-nominations-rahul-khanna Bollywood Hollywood gets 5 Genie nominations], The Times of India, 3 January 2003, She was also portraying the role of Badi Maa in the cult show Khichadi (2002).

Personal life

She married Baldev Pathak and had two daughters, acclaimed actresses Ratna Pathak Shah (b. 1957), and Supriya Pathak Kapur (b. 1961).

Death

She completed her last film, Pinjar (2003), but died before its release, of heart attack, following a prolonged illness, on 11 October 2002 in Bandra, Bombay.

Selected filmography

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Television

class="wikitable"
Year!

! Serial

! Role

!Channel

! Notes

1987

| Malgudi Days

| Aaya (Main Role)

|Doordarshan

|Only Episode no 41

Rowspan="2"| 1994

|Tehkikaat

|Kanchan Chaudhry

|Rowspan="2"|DD National

|Jealously Turns Blood Episode 1 to 3

Junoon

|Savitri Dhanraj

|Only from Episode 1 to 7

1999

| Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka

|Dadi

|Sony Entertainment Television

|

2002

|Khichdi

|Diwaliben Parekh aka Badi Maa

|Star Plus

|

Awards

Notes

{{reflist}}

References

  • {{cite book |last=Brandon |first=James R. |author2=Martin Banham |title=The Cambridge guide to Asian theatre |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-521-58822-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ttnH5W9qoBAC&pg=PA83 |ref=Br}}

External links

  • {{IMDb name|0665544}}
  • {{Bollywood Hungama person|dina-pathak}}
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20080224061435/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/210565/Dina-Pathak Dina Pathal filmography at New York Times] (archived 24 February 2008)
  • [http://deep750.googlepages.com/FilmfareAwards.pdf List of Filmfare Award Winners and Nominations, 1953–2005] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090612065210/http://deep750.googlepages.com/FilmfareAwards.pdf |date=12 June 2009 }}

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Category:1922 births

Category:2002 deaths

Dina Pathak

Category:People from Amreli district

Category:Gujarati actresses

Category:Actresses in Gujarati cinema

Category:Indian women activists

Category:Indian stage actresses

Category:20th-century Indian actresses

Category:Actresses in Hindi cinema

Category:Indian theatre directors

Category:Gujarati theatre

Category:21st-century Indian actresses

Category:Indian women's rights activists

Category:Activists from Gujarat

Category:Indian women theatre directors

Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

Category:Communist Party of India politicians from Gujarat

Category:Female politicians of the Communist Party of India