Veteran Marathi and
Hindi actress Vanamala will always be associated
with her roles in the landmark films, Sikander
(1941) opposite Prithviraj
Kapoor and in particular the title role in
Shyamchi Aai
(1953), the first film ever to win the Best
Film Award when the National Awards were instituted
for Indian Cinema in 1954.
Vanamala was born Susheeladevi Pawar in 1915.
She began her career in the late 1930s following
her graduation and having become a teacher in
Pune's Camp Education Society. Vanamala
entered films at a time when it was considered
taboo for women from respectable families to work
in films though women like Devika
Rani and Durga Khote had started working in
films by then. It was V
Shantaram who encouraged her to come into
the film industry as an actress.
 Vanamala
acted in both Hindi and Marathi Cinema. Among
her Hindi films, Vanamala will always be best
remembered for Sohrab
Modi's historical Sikander and Sharbati
Ankhen (1945), directed by Ramchandra Thakur
for Wadia Movietone. In the former she played
Alexander the Great's love interest, a Persian
woman, Rukhsana, who fearing for Alexander's life
extracts a promise from Porus that he will not
harm Sikander. Vanamala made a major impact in
her role, her beauty coupled with her light-coloured
lively eyes taking the audiences breath away.
The film itself was a spectacle - its lavish mounting,
huge sets and production values equalling the
best of Hollywood then particularly its rousing
and spectacular battle scenes. It was rated by
a British writer as...
"…well up to the standard of that
old masterpiece The Birth of a Nation."
In Sharbati Ankhen, a noir tale, her
eyes were again used to mesmerising effect, the
film so aptly titled one feels, after her! The
film has some of the earliest songs sung by Mohd
Rafi in his career including Pyaar Karna
hi Padega and Bahut Mukhtasar Hai Humari
Kahani. The music for the film was done by
Feroz Nizami who went on to compose unforgettable
music in a hat-trick of films with the great Noor
Jehan (Jugnu (1947) in India and
Chan Wey (Punjabi) (1951) and Dopatta
(1952) in Pakistan).
However, the one role that undoubtedly immortalized
Vanamala forever was the title role in the National
Award winning Marathi film, Shyamchi Aai,
directed by her husband PK Atre. The film,
regarded as a cult classic today, is based on
one of the most influential Marathi novels of
the 20th century (1935), a fictionalised account
of the childhood years of Sane Guruji (1899 -
1950). A nationalist influenced by Vinoba Bhave
and especially Gandhiji, he was imprisoned repeatedly
for his work among the peasantry and participation
in the Quit India agitations. His book Shyamchi
Aai, written in jail, has 45 episodes in
which Shyam, a youth living in poverty in Konkan,
recalls the teachings of his mother, a devoutly
religious person with an earthy and practical
philosophy. The hit film has remained a generic
landmark in Marathi Cinema and especially so for
Vanamala's maternal prototype. Actor Madhav Vaze,
who played the role of her son Shyam in Shyamchi
Aai, recalls Pawar as a woman of few words.
"Her actions spoke for her. She was well-educated
and a cultured woman who belonged to a noble family
from Gwalior," he said.
Some other films that Vanamala acted in include
Payachi Dasi (Marathi)/ Charnon ki Dasi (Hindi)
(1941), Vasantasena (1942), Dil ki Baat
(1944), Hatim Tai (1947), Beete Din (1947)
and Shree Ram Bharat Milap (1965).
The supposedly demure Vanamala was a staunch
nationalist and was deeply involved in the freedom
movement along with stalwarts like Aruna Asaf
Ali and Achyut Patwardhan. She was deeply involved
in several social causes and was a member of the
Chhatrapati Shivaji National Memorial Committee.
She also ran a school to train children in traditional
Indian arts and culture, The Haridas Kala
Sansthan.
Vanamala who had been suffering from cancer,
passed away in Gwalior on May 29, 2007.
Image courtesy Sound and Picture
Archives fir Research on Women.
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