Kanan Devi - Biography

Biography

Kanan Devi was born as Kanan Dassi in Howrah, West Bengal on 22 April 1916. In her autobiography, entitled "Sabaray Ami Nami", Kanan Devi has observed that she was born illegitimately. After the death of her adoptive father, Ratan Chandra Das, young Kanan and her mother were simply left to fend for themselves. Kanan Devi's life is a true story of rags to riches.

A well wisher(Durga Prasad Ghosh) introduced Kanan Bala when she was only ten to Madan Theatres/Jyoti Studios where she was cast in a small role in Joydev (1926). Kanan did at least five films with the Madan Theatres productions, (1926-1932) Rishir Prem, Jorebarat, Bishnumaya and Prahlad, playing even male leads in the last two. She then worked with Radha Films from 1933-1936, then New Theatres from 1937-1942, MP Productions 1943-1948 and finally her own label Shrimati Pictures 1949-1959. From silent film roles as a child artist Kanan made the successful transition into the talkie films and was noticed with Jor Baraat, Khooni Kaun and Maa (1934).

Her films with Jyotish Banerjee included Joydev, Rishir Prem, Jorebarat, Vishnumaya, Kantahaar and Manomoyee Girls School. Her films with Prafulla Ghosh were Sree Gourange, Char Darvesh, Maa and Hari Bhakti.

New Theatres's P.C. Barua wanted her to play the lead in his Devdas (1935), 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. 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, Street Singer, Sapera, Jawani ki Reet, Parajay, Abhinetri, Lagan, Parichay and Jawab.

She came in contact with the music maestro Raii 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 Ustad 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. Her name was soon changed to Kanan Devi. It was her association with K. C. Dey uncle and teacher to Manna Dey, that people enjoyed the most. Kanan Devi remained the top star of New Theatres until she resigned her contract in 1941 and began to freelance in Bengali and Hindi films.

Kanan Devi has worked with the biggest names in Bengali and 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 Devi 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 Devi married her first husband, Shri Ashok Maitra, around March 1941, son of the staunch Brahmo Samaj reformer Heramba Chandra Maitra. It was a short-lived marriage despite the couple's best intentions and was severely condemned by the then conservative society. Even the poet Rabindra Nath Tagore who sent a token gift to the married couple received scathing criticism for congratulating the couple. Despite the pain of the divorce, Kanan expressed her immense gratitude towards her first husband for giving her social recognition for the first time in her life. She maintained excellent relations with Rani Mahanalobis, sister to Ashok Maitra and her husband the famous social scientist P.C. Mahanalobis.

Later, Kanan Devi married Haridas Bhattacharya around 1949, Haridas Bhattacharya, then ADC to the Governor of Bengal, eventually left the service to become a competent director of Kanan Devi's films. While she raised her son, Siddharta Bhattacharya in Calcutta, she also formed and worked as the president of Mahila Shilpi Mahal, an organization to help aging female artists and 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 honourary 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.