Biography of Durga Khote

(1905 - September 22, 1990)

Durga Khote, the great Marathi actress, was born in 1905 in an elite Maharashtra family. She was educated in a Cathedral School and was much influenced by the ideas of Avantikabai Gokhale. The unusual class background of Durga Khote helped her to assume different images from the conventional Sangeet Natak stereotypes. Though she acted well in ‘Farebi Jaal', it was ‘Ayodhya Ka Raja', directed by Prabhat, where her performance was excellent.

Durga Khote shifted her interest to theatre and worked with Debaki Bose. Durga Khote's role as a queen in Shantaram's Maya Machindra' was brilliant. She performed in the film Mughal-e-Azam's the queen mother.

Durga Khote was associated with the I.P.T.A. and acted in Andolan to replenish the Gandhi Fund. This Marathi woman acted and directed some Marathi plays. 'Bhuabandhaki' was the first Marathi play performed by Durga Khote. She also wrote an autobiography, Me Durga Khote (1982). On September 22, 1991, this great actress left the world.