Uma (15)

One other earliest stars of the New Theatres' of Calcutta, Uma was born in 1915 in a poor Brahmin family of Calcutta. Her father was Nilmani Chattopadhyay and her mother Radharani.It was from Russa Theatres' that she was chosen to act in films. Her first screen appearance was in Bangabala (1929) in the role of Subarna. It was a silent film. She had to quit the stage because the authorities would not allow their paid staff to work in films. The other films that followed were Bigraha (1930) where she played Ranima and Abhishek (1931). These were silent, too. Around this period, Umasashi started recording songs for Columbia. At a later stage when she was doing sound films, she shifted to Hindustan Musical Products and remained their exclusive singing artiste. In gramophone records for both Columbia and Hindustan, she was credited as Smt. Uma Devi. Her first sound film was Dena Paona (1931) where she acted in a crowd scene of Gajan and also sang a song Baba Apan Bhola Moder Pagal Chhele along with Miss Abhabati. She was trained for the song by Pankaj Kumar Mallick. The next year she played Rami in Chandidas (1932) of New Theatres and thereby earned for herself a permanent place in the Bengali screen apart from being recognised as a major leading lady of New Theatres. Old cine lovers still remember her performance and her portrayal of the suffering Rami. Soon she became known to the rest of India with her Hindi films, including the Hindi version of Chandidas (1934) which had immortal songs like Prem Nagar Mein, a duet of Uma with K.L. Saigal. Bishnumaya (1932),Ruplekha (1934), Bhagyachakra (1935), Dhoop Chhaon (1935), Daku Mansoor (1934),Desher Mati (1938), Puran Bhagat (1933), Kapalkundala (1933), Bhagyachakra (1935), Anath Ashram (1937), Dharti Mata (1938) were her major movies and her major heroes included Durgadas Bannerjee, K.L. Saigal, Pahadi Sanyal, Prithviraj Kapoor and others.