YASHODHARA KATJU ( Born 1927 ) .. A FORGOTTEN
ACTRESS OF INDIAN CINEMA
She belonged to a reputed
Kashmiri Pandit family of Lucknow. Her father had shifted to Lahore on account of his employment . Later the family moved back to Lucknow as her father , Jeevan Lal Katju, was appointed on a senior administrative position by the
British Government and transferred to the united Provinces . Her father later resigned his government job and joined the freedom struggle of the country . He was a
well known Congress leader from the UP. Her Mother's name was Kailashwati Mulla Katju. She was the sister Ananad Narain Mulla , the well known Urdu poet and the Judge of Allahabad High court .
Yashodhra was fondly called as Chunnu by her parents. Other members of this Katju family were her brothers Moti Lal Katju , Pyare Lal Katju and her three sisters Chandra ( Manno) , Usha ( Panno ) and Manorama . Manorama ( Journalist and former editor of the film Journal Screen ) married a European journalist named Harold Phillip Mcleod Walter while Usha was married to Prakash Narain Masaaldaan ( a Kashmiri Brahmin ). Katju family was closely related to Nehrus of Allahabad .
Yashodhra was fondly called as Chunnu by her parents. Other members of this Katju family were her brothers Moti Lal Katju , Pyare Lal Katju and her three sisters Chandra ( Manno) , Usha ( Panno ) and Manorama . Manorama ( Journalist and former editor of the film Journal Screen ) married a European journalist named Harold Phillip Mcleod Walter while Usha was married to Prakash Narain Masaaldaan ( a Kashmiri Brahmin ). Katju family was closely related to Nehrus of Allahabad .
Yashodhara studied in English
medium schools and was fluent in English , Hindi and Urdu. Apart from that, she
was a highly talented girl who was equally well versed with singing
and dancing . For
some time she also joined Bhatkhande Music Institute ,Lucknow to learn music but devoted more time to dancing and got
herself trained as a professional dancer ( Kathakali , Katahk and Manipuri ) from some masters of Lucknow . Later she took dancing lessons in
Bombay as well.
According to Dr Sunil Kothari ,
“With help of Kathak Guru
Mohanrao Kallianpurkar , Pandit Sundar
Prasad( Kathak maestro of Jaipur Gharana ) started Bindadin Maharaj School of
Kathak named after the great Kathak Guru Bindadin Maharaj near Babulnath Temple
in Mumbai. It attracted a few young female dancers like Nalini Jayant, who
later on became a well known film star, and Yashodhara Katju who also joined
films.”
All this apart , this talented girl nursed a
desire from her childhood to join films and accordingly, much against the
wishes of her family , she moved to Bombay in 1941. The family is reported to have sought intervention
of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru also
to dissuade her from joining films but she proved adamant. Katjus were closely related to Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru’s family . It is said that
Chander Mohan Wattal , another actor of
that period too tried to dissuade her from acting in
films but she remained adamant. Her
parents finally consented to her
decision and ensured a boarding and lodging for her in Bombay .
Prior to her , Shyama Zutshi was
the first Kashmiri Pandit girl who joined films
in 1934 .She acted in Shiv Bhakti produced in 1934 .
And in 1941, at a young age of 14 years , she was
offered a role in a movie named LALAJI produced by theNational Studios . The movie was completed in 1942. Her co-actors
in that movie were Yakub, A. R. Kabul, Wasker, Amar, Sunalini, Vatsala Kumtekar, Maya Devi
and Krishnakant .
Between LALAJI (1942, her first Movie
) and DO PHOOL (1973 her last movie ) ,she acted in about 85 films .
Her co-stars included Jagdish Sethi, Pahari Sanyal, Shanta Apte, K. C.
Dey, Manorama ,Motilal, Shobhana
Samarth, Leela Misra, Trilok Kapoor,
Sadhana Bose, Khurshid, Kanhaiyalal,
Ulhas, Yakub, Jairaj, Rehman, Suraiya, Prem Adeeb, Nirupa Roy ,Shyam, Suraiya,
Kuldip Kaur ( K K ), Jeevan, Cuckoo,Bharat Bhushan, Lalita Pawar, K. N. Singh, Meena Kumari, Jankidas, Durga Khote,
Mukri, Bhagwan, Jagirdar, Nigar Sultana, Ajit, Pran, Agha, Sunder, Anwar
Hussein, Jayant, Shakila, Naseem Bano,
Guru Dutt, Ratan Kumar, Mahipal, Ifftekhar, Bina Rai, Rajendranath, Helen, Madhubala, Sapru, Sulochana, Sunil Dutt, Meena Kumari, Daisy
Irani, Ashok Kumar, Kumkum,
Vaijayantimala, Begum Para,
Kamajit, Tuntun, Balraj Sahni, Devanand , Prem Chopra , Rajendra Nath , Aruna Irani , Mehmood and
Rajendra Kumar.
From the younger generation, her co
stars included Rakhee Gulzar, Rakesh
Roshan, Hema Malini, Simi Garewal, Kabir Bedi, Zeenat Aman, Vinod Mehra ,Mumtaz and Mehmood Junior . She worked with almost all
prominent directors in the film industry including S.S.Vasan, Devendra Goel
,Guru Dutt, Mohan Segal, P. L.Santoshi ,M.Sadiq ,D. N. Madhok,H.S.Rawail,B. R.
Chopra, Rafiq Rizv, Kishore Sahu,Dev Anand and Mahesh Kaul.
She started as a co star , moved to lead roles , shifted to
comedy ( Mostly with Bhagwan , another comedian of her time ) and finally did some memorable
performances as a character actress (Seema , Hare Rama Hare Krishna and Do
Phool etc.) .
Yashodhara had a younger sister named Manorama Katju. Manorama edited Screen , a popular Film Tabloid . Manorama later started her own magazine but closed it after sometime and moved permanently to England.
Yashodhara had a younger sister named Manorama Katju. Manorama edited Screen , a popular Film Tabloid . Manorama later started her own magazine but closed it after sometime and moved permanently to England.
Her close friends included Nalini Jayant , Laita Pawar and Nirupa
Roy.Sometime around 1958, she married a Naval officer ( Commander Bhandari )
and lived a happy married life..After 1973, she did not act in films and slipped into oblivion .She died of a sudden heart attack.
( Avtar Mota )
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.