Tawaifs, the first women in Hindi cinema

Tawaif is the Awadhi term for a highly-skilled courtesan. Tawaifs rose to prominence during the 18th and 19th centuries in the royal courts of Awadh.
They took Persian influences from the courts of Shia kings and married them with Indian forms. We inherit the Kathak, the dadra, and the thumri from them.
Popular tawaifs were the top tax-paying citizens of Lucknow at one time. By the early 1920s, with the rise of colonial morality and ideas they slowly began to lose their prestige and demand.
Sensing the decline of their kothas and dreading a push into prostitution, the tawaifs began migrating to other professions. Some were lured by the gramophone industry, others moved towards Parsi theatre. It was at this time that they began acting in cinema as well, becoming the first women to do so.
Fatma Begum was the first woman to direct a Bollywood film. Her daughter Zubeida became a star in silent movies and acted in India’s first talkie, Alam Ara (1931).
Jaddanbai set up her own production house called Sangeet Movietone. Her daughter, Nargis, became an accomplished actor. She went on to marry the actor Sunil Dutt, and is the mother of actor Sanjay Dutt.
The song ‘Mohe Panghat Pe Nandlal Ched Gaye Ro’, a part of K. Asif’s Mughal-E-Azam (1960) is taken from the repertoire of Uttar Pradesh's tawaifs.
Despite this, there was anxiety within the industry around their sexuality and sensuality. Slowly, a lot of their contributions were played down.
However, it was the role as Tawaif in films like Mugal-E-Azam, Pakeezah  and Umrao Jaan; that gave actors like Madhubala, Meena Kumari and Rekha a chance to show off their skills in a hero-driven industry.

[diprohajra]

Kathak dance is of Indian Origin, Vaishnavism and story telling were the main elements of kathak before persian influence came in

[humann]

FYI.. Kathak is not inherited from Persian courts and tawaifs. It was already an existing artform amongst different gharanas in India and got evolved in time. Stop spreading this rumour that it is a mughal or persian art form. In fact it was the only classical dance form that withstood all the invasions in North India.

[ruchisinghparihar]

Once a shame Nw a Fame, in society.. hw human evolved rapidly

[mishthi]

Well all is about survival right..Is it wrong to evolve if these courtesans have found a way to use their creativity in a better way and earn a so called respectable income then that's a good thing...every human being deserves right to have an honest days earning opportunity with their hard work and talent 😊

[myworldkanika]

Of course. Who would have gone to sing and dance in those days except tawaifs? Jaddanbai, grandmother of Sanjay Dutt, had come to dance at the birth ceremony of my father's tauji. My forefathers were big zamindars in Bihar.

[arshbehal]

Really should have found someone more versed with the Urdu and Hindi pronunciation to do the voiceover.

[sharadrao]

I didn't know that thanks for video

[shooter]

So nargis is descendant of a courtesy?

[farjhashaik]

Anyone noticed savithri in the few seconds

[akeedasharma]

I have read the article.. It was brilliant. I didn't that they participated in independence. They were one of first rebels against britshers

[asungt]

What a beautiful accent. Interesting video.

[tarass]

Completely wrong and misleading information throughout this video. 😂 Whoever passed the write-up should be fired but again what can one expect from the hindu., change your name to the propogandist.

[sdj]

We inherited Kathak and Dadra from Tawaiif culture!? What level of appropriation and maligning should be considered illegal I imagine?