By Jagmohan Singh Barhok
On Her Birth Anniversary
Durga Khote is rightly called the #foremost leading lady of the Hindi screen who ruled for over five decades, and so authoritatively, too.
An ardent theatre lover and Marathi actress Durga Khote worked in over 200 films – “Bharat Milap”, a Vijay Bhatt’s venture followed by “Mirza Ghalib”( 1954) featuring Bharat Bhushan, Suraiya, Durga Khote & Nigar Sultana, produced & directed by Sohrab Modi. One of the songs “Dil – E – Nadan Tujhe Hua Kya Hai” by Suraiya and Talat Mahmood under the music score by Ghulam Mohammed was an instant hit & even today continues to carry its charisma.
“Mughal-E-Azam” ( 1960), directed by K. Asif , was the highest grossing film of the year with some the best songs and performances by stars like Prithviraj Kapoor, Ajit & Durga Khote who played Jodha Bai. K. Asif had spent lavishly and accordingly sold the film at 17 lakhs per territory against 3 to 5 lakh for other similar films.
“Bobby” ( 1973), starring Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Prem Nath, and Pran was also the highest grossing film of the year doing wonders at the #Box office front . It collected more than 29 crore worldwide with a net profit of more than 5 crores. It was a Blockbuster followed by ‘Daag’, ‘Jugnu’ & ‘Zanzeer’ -Super Hits.
‘Maya Machhindra’ (1932 ) was one of her earliest films followed by Punjabi film “Yamla Jatt” (1940) starring M. Ismail
Noor Jehan, Durga Khote & Pran. “Gaon Ki Gori” (1945) starring Noor Jehan, Durga Khote, Nazir, Jagdish Sethi ,was the second highest grossing film of 1945.
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She also worked in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Ritwik Ghatak written “Musafir” ( 1957), starring Dilip Kumar & Suchitra Sen; AVM Production’s “Bhabhi” featuring Balraj Sahni & Nanda with hit songs like “Chal Ud Ja Re Panchi” & “Chali Chali Re Patang Meri Chali Re”.
