By Jagmohan Singh Barhok
Durga Khote, the actress under reference, was born Vita Lad to a Konkani family of Goa. She is remembered for her role as Jodha Bai in Mughal-e-Azam , Mrs Braganza in “Bobby” & as Shashi Kapoor’s mother in James Ivory’s “The Householders”(1963). Rightly bestowed with the title foremost leading lady of the Hindi screen who ruled for over five decades, authoritatively & convincingly.
“Maya Machhindra” (1932) & “Seeta” (1934) include her earlier films followed by “Hum Ek Hain” (1946 film), “Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu” (1953), & “Mirza Ghalib” (1954). I watched her most films as a teenager like “Parakh”, “Mughal-E-Azam”, “Usne Kaha Tha” & “Love in Simla” (All (1960) & “Mujhe Jeene Do” (1963) . She featured in several popular and social hits in the 1960s like-‘Sagaai’ ‘Pyar Mohabbat’, ‘Anupama’, ‘Devar’, ‘Daadi Maa’, ‘Jhuk Gaya Aasman’,”Ek Phool Do Mali’, ‘Jeene Ki Raah’ to name some.
‘Narsi Bhagat’ (1940), ‘Bharat Milap’ (1942) ‘Ram Rajya’ (1943), Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’ (1953) & ‘Ramayana’ (1954) are some of her earlier religious & devotional films.
Durga Khote also featured in an advertisement for Mercedes-Benz in the 1930s. India Today named her among “100 People Who Shaped India”, in its Millennium Issue, being the first women from a respectable family to make a foray into cinema.
She joined the film industry presumably after the untimely death of her husband, then barely in her twenties. One of her grandsons, Deven Khote, is a producer. Shobha Khote, who worked opposite Mehmood in many films, is her niece and Viju Khote her nephew.
