Shanta Apte

No film star created as much sensation by her behavior as did Shanta Apte, who was aptly described as “the stormy petrel of the Indian screen.” Now a decade after her death, she seems to have created another sensation. In the Diwali issue of a local Marathi weekly a stage artiste Nayana Apte has confessed that she is the daughter of Shanta. So far, at least it was not publicly known that Shanta Apte ever got married or that she had a child out of wedlock.

Nayana Apte writes: “In 1946­-47, when Shanta Apte had stop­ped acting in any film she be­came Mrs. Shanta Apte. Her hus­band was a rich landlord and related to her. His surname was also Apte. He could not recognize the artiste in her. He was strongly opposed to her artistic ambition. Shantabai thought that she would be able to persuade him by staking all her clever­ness. But she failed. He was equally obstinate. It was per­haps characteristic of the Aptes. In three months Shantabai left her husband She was pregnant. I was born at Andheri. I was christened Nayana.”

She adds that she never saw her father. For that matter though I remember meeting Shanta Apte in Andheri in 1947, for an interview for a local Eng­lish weekly, I did not see her husband.

Apart from this rather belated revelation by her daughter Nayana, Shanta Apte had a very eventful career as both film and stage star. Born at Neera, she was the daughter of a station-master who was also a good singer. Shanta Apte learnt sing­ing in childhood and made a name for herself as a singer at Ganpati festivals in Poona. When the movies began to talk, there was a demand for artistes who could sing. The teenaged Shanta was cast as Radha in Saraswati Cinetone’s mythological “Shayam­sunder”, opposite Shahu Modak as Krishna. Shanta Apte’s elder brother Baburao Apte played Radha’s husband in that film. The Hindi version did not fare well, but the  Marathi version was a phenomenal success. It was the first talkie to run for 25 weeks at one theatre, in Bombay.

Despite this success Shanta Apte did not get any other role. She did not receive encouraging press notices. In 1947 when I asked her how she happened to be a film actress she replied “To tell you the truth I had no idea about films when I first appear­ed before the camera. I was too young then and interested only in music. It was because I was told that I would learn music in a film studio that I stepped in there. But after my first experi­ence I would probably never have taken to films as a career had it not been said that I could not act at all. When the director himself said that I could not enact any rate I had to accept the challenge. That is why I joined Prabhat three years later.”

For almost three years she did not get an opportunity to display her talent. It was only after Prabhat had shifted its headquarters to Poona, that Shanta Apte signed a long term contract with Prabhat. Her first film for Prabhat was “Amrit­manthan”, based on a story by N. H. Apte. Set in the Buddhist period, the picture was a plea against religious sacrifice.

She was cast as the hero’s sister. The role was emotional. Thee scenes showing her as a demented woman revealed for the first time that Shanta Apte could act. Her songs (especially Raat Ayi Hai Naya Rang Jamane Ke Liye) became a popular craze. “Amritmanthan” was the first Hindi film to celebrate a silver jubilee in Bombay. Though the leading roles belonged to Suresh Babu and Nalini Tarkhad, it was Shanta Apte and Chandramohan who got the bouquets after the release.

During her contract with Pra­bhat she appeared in “Amar­yoti”, “Rajput Ramani”, “Duniya Na Mane”, “Wahan” and “Gopal Krishna”. “Amarjyoti” and “Du­niya Na Mane” were directed by V. Shantaram. In “Amarjyoti” she played the romantic lead and the ward of a woman who hated men. In “Duniya Na Mane” she was cast as Nirmala, a young girl marri­ed to a man old enough to be her father. Instead of accepting the marriage as a ‘failed accomplishment” she revolts, refusing to have conjugal relations with her hus­band and making him realize his mistake. Shanta Apte was sin­cere and convincing. In a scene she beat her step-son with a cane. She was to repeat that scene in real life: she walked into the office of the editor of a film magazine in Bombay and caned him for writing scandalously about her.

Her performance in “Duniya Na Mane” proved beyond doubt that Shanta Apte was a very talented actress. In “Rajput Ramani” she played a spirited Rajput girl and in “Wahan”, she played a tribal girl seeking free­dom. “Gopal Krishna” in which she again played Radha was her greatest vindication as an artiste. For, the very people who had said that she could not act as Radha in “Shyamsunder” hailed her portrayal in “Gopalkrishna.” In seven years, from a rejected actress Shanta Apte had grown into a sought after star.

During her association with Prabhat she had many disputes with the management. Those days the stars could not dictate; the producers ruled supreme. To assert her rights Shanta Apte had to fight. And she went on a hunger strike to demand justice from Prabhat.

Her association with Prabhat ended in 1938. She became a free-lancer—she was perhaps the first film star in India to do it. Shanta and her brother Babu­rao formed Shanta Apte con­cerns. She had been inactive for over a year at Prabhat till her contract expired.

She learned Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Gujarati. Earlier she had learnt English. In fact, she had sung a poem by Long­fellow in “Duniya Na Mane” and won plaudits for her diction. She appeared in a Tamil film “Savi­thri”. She played the title role. M.S. Subbalakshmi appeared as Narada in the same film. It was a treat to hear these great singers together in the film.

A singer of repute herself  Shanta Apte was vehemently opposed to plauback singing by ghost voices. “If the film art is to be sincere and true then the present deception of playback must be stopped,” she said, and those artistes who can sing must be invited to sing and the audi­ence should not be misled by borrowed voices.”

From Madras, Shanta Apte went to Lahore to appear in Pancholi’s “Zamindar” opposite S. D. Narang. Her temperamental behavior created a storm. But Pancholi managed affairs successfully. “Zamindar” was a success. And Shanta Apte’s song Chhotasa Sansar scored by Ghu­lam Haider became a memorable hit.

Back in Bombay Shanta Apte appeared in Debaki Bose’s “Apna Ghar”. She played the role of Meera, a young girl married to a widowed forest officer who lives in the jungle. All her
marital needs are satisfied; but she is not happy being just a housewife and mother. She is interested in the problems of the tribe living in the jungle.

Ultimately she leaves her home and dedicates herself to tribal welfare, refusing to subscribe to the orthodox theory that a woman’s place is behind the four walls of her husband’s home. With Chandramohan cast as her overpowering husband, who represented the ruling class, Shanta Apte symbolized mother India trying to break the fetters. She was ideally cast as the girl re­belling against old concepts. She gave a sterling performance.

Her other important role during that period was as Mahashweta in “Kadambari”, based on the Sanskrit classic of the same name and directed by Nandlal Jaswantlal (“Anarkali”, “Nagin”). Shanta Apte looked glamorous in this film.

During the wartime boom she appeared in a number of films: “Mohabbat”, “Bhagyalakshmi”, “Sawan”, “Panihari”, “Subhadra”, “Uttara Abhimanyu” and “Valmiki”. During the post-war and post-independence period Shanta Apte lost her star status. She appeared only in a few Hindi films like “Mandir”, “Mai Abla Nahin Hoon” and “Swayamsiddha” and a number of Marathi films like “Jaga Bhadyane Dene Aahe”, “Shilanganache Sone”, “Jara Japoon” and “Bhagyawan”.

Her performance in “Swayam­siddha” won her accolades. For here was a role which appeared to have been specially written for her: that of a woman whose husband is meek, almost mad. And her brother-in-law domi­nates the household. Unable to bear the injustice, the wife re­volts. She succeeds in bringing her husband back to his senses and teaches a lesson to her brother-in-law.

The film was made in Calcutta and in 1949 the producers came to Bombay to sell it. No distri­butor was prepared to buy it. The only person who evinced any interest in the film was Tarachand Barjatya. He released the film at the Central and Excel­sior cinemas in Bombay. With Shanta Apte no longer a star, the opening was poor. But the critics, among them M. D. Japheth (who those days reviewed films for the “Bharat Jyoti”) liked it. An impromptu press conference

was arranged with Shanta Apte at the Excelsior Soda Fountain. And thanks to the favorable press reaction, the collections picked up. “Swayamsiddha” clicked in a big way. The picture brought Bipin Gupta (who played the father-in-law) into the limelight.

Venus Pictures of Madras made another version of the same film “Bahurani”, with Mala Sinha in the role that Shanta Apte had played. Guru Dutt played the husband and Feroz Khan the brother-in-law.

“Swayamsiddha” was Shanta Apte’s last great performance. Indeed, her three outstanding performances were as a rebel revolting against injustice in “Duniya Na Mane”, “Apna Ghar” and “Swayamsiddha”. The last film in which she appeared was Mulu Manek’s Gujarati historical. The last decade of her life she devoted to the stage., Be­sides giving song recitals she played singing roles in Guajarati and Marathi plays pays. She appeared as a sophisticated girl in Acharya Atre’s “Lagnachi Bedi” and had roles in plays like “Manaapman”, “Saubhadra” and “Ekach Pyala”. She created  a controversy on stage by introducing a new style of rendering popular old songs. During one of her performances, the instrumentalists annoyed by her constant variations of ‘alaaps’ walked out. But she stuck her ground and sang her songs till the last act without any accom­paniment.

Thanks to her eccentric behavior accentuated by her drinking she got few opportunities to display her talent. She became an alcoholic. The separation from her elder brother who got married and lost interest in her affairs, added to her grief. The last three or four years when she was almost jobless were tragic. She died on February 24, 1964 in a desolate condition. She was 46. Her brother Baburao died a year or so later.

Shanta Apte was perhaps the first star to write a book. Entitled “Jaoo Mi Cinemat” (Should I join films) it was meant as a warning and guide to young aspirants. A Marathi play “Kachecha Chandra” (Glass Moon)  was based on it. It has been a big success.

A few years before her death S. Mukerji had signed her to appear in Filmalaya’s first film with Dilip Kumar. But the pic­ture was never made. And we lost the opportunity to see Shanta Apte in a mature role (by V.P. Sathe in 1977).

Roop Kishore Shorey

[ Back to R.K. Shorey's Menu ]

Hindi and Punjabi director and producer born in Quetta (now in Pakistan). Son of Roshan Lal Shorey, Roop was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and raised by an English governess. He acquired an early interest in Western music and English literature. He started his career as a Cinematographer, lab assistant, editor and producer in Kamala Movietone, owned by his father. As a child, he was a prolific writer and composer, and followed in the footsteps of his father Roshanlal Shorey in making his first full-length comedy Lucky Lovers at the age of 17. He produced and directed more than fifty short films in Lahore, and turned feature director with the coming of sound, pioneering low cost versions of Bombay films: e.g. mythologicals, Laila-Majnu love stories and Tarzan movies. Although preceded in this by B.R. Oberai and A.R. Kardar, Shorey was the first to demonstrate the financial viability of this formula, esp. in partnership with Dalsukh M. Pancholi.

One of the earliest films directed by Roop was Majnu (1935) — a musical comedy satirizing the old story of Laila Majnu, produced, directed and shot in Lahore with Ghulam Haider as music director. Playing the lead was Roop’s childhood friend Harold Lewis, who has since been known by his screen name Majnu. With daring motorbike stunts and special effects, audiences were thrilled at the sight of Majnu trapped on the railway tracks by the villain. The film confirmed his success as a film-maker, and audiences leaving the first show lifted him on their shoulders and danced joyously.

Another one, Tarzan ki Beti (1938) was hailed as the best jungle picture ever produced in India at that time. Filmed in the snowy Himalayas, the film topped its predecessor in its action sequences and placed Punjab on the entertainment map of India and the world. Majnu made a marked return in Nishani (1942), a musical situational comedy with Majnu in a double role. With music scored by Pandit Amernath, and Ragini as the heroine, Roop and his father personally trained the technical staff and musicians, who worked morning to night on a fixed salary.

He worked with Information Films of India in WW2 and migrated to Bombay following partition and established Shorey Films in Bombay (1948). With a solid reputation in Hindi and Punjabi cinema already established, Roop began to set new trends in comedy film with Ek Thi Ladki (1949, starring Motilal, Meena Shorey, Kuldeep Kaur, Majnu and introducing I.S. Johar), one of Roop’s biggest hits as a producer. With Partition, Roop and his family lost their film empire in Lahore, but they shifted to Bombay and tenaciously continued as before. In the years following independence, he produced Dr. Chaman (Punjabi), starring Meena Shorey, Karan Dewan, Om Prakash and Kuldeep Kaur, Dholak (1951), with Meena Shorey and Ajit in the lead-role, and Ek Do Teen (1953) starring the by-now-familiar Motilal-Meena team. Roop specialized in the pure situational comedy in which the characters were ready to laugh at themselves rather than take pleasure at laughing at others. R.K. Karanjia, writing for Blitz in 1953, called Roop `The King of Comedy’, and litterateur Mulk Raj Anand paid him an eloquent tribute.

During the same time period, Roop married Meena, the leading lady of his many films. In 1955, the couple was called to Lahore by J.C. Anand to make Miss 56. It was somewhat like Mr. & Mrs. 55, a Mahubala-Guru Dutt venture from Bombay. Shorey directed Miss 56 with Meena in the lead. Santosh, Shamim Ara, Charlie, Zareef and Aslam Pervaiz were also in the cast. Though the film did good business, it proved to be the swan song of the Shoreys. Meena, the lara-lappa girl of the forties was pampered by all, in contrast with the treatment meted out to declining artistes by film-goers in Bombay. For her it was like rediscovering the adulation of her youth. So when the time came to return to India, she decided to stay back, leaving heart-broken Roop to take yet another trip from Lahore empty-handed, within a span of ten years, first losing his means of livelihood and then his sweetheart. Though he died in 1973, Shorey was never again the man he used to be. Meena survived him by fifteen years but lived like a pauper in the last years of her life. When she died in 1989, the expenses of her burial were met through charity.

Roop’s last film, Ek Thi Rita, an English bilingual (A Girl Named Rita) that intended to tap the US market, was released in 1971. Roop Shorey, who passed away at the age of 56, will always be remembered for his serious approach to a genre known for its lightheartedness.

Ranjan

Histrionics is but one of the attainments of Ranjan, that man of many talents. He is an accomplished dancer and musician, playwright, journalist, critic, scholar, aviator and athlete, a competent painter and,  to crown it all ,a magician.

How did Ranjan manage to acquire marked proficiency in so many fields? The secret of his many accomplishments is that he finds the time for everything except idleness. When he is not working in pictures, he occupies himself with one or other of his many interests. When he feels the need to relax he paints in the balcony of his quiet bungalow in Union Park, Bandra. In this sphere his forte is portrait-painting and the color schemes he uses are unusual.

Born in Madras on March 2, 1918, Ranjan is one of a family of ten—eight brothers and two sisters. Ranjan and an elder brother, Vaidyanathan, both showed an aptitude for music at an early age, and their father had them taught by some of the great music teach­ers of the South.

Vaidyanathan went to Cambridge and the young Ranjan was intended for a career at the same university. But while he was still at college war broke out and ruined his chances of going there. But he had already fared very well.

At fifteen he was classed as a virtuoso on the violin. He won a number of prizes at school for proficiency in music and was the youngest student at Madras University to be awarded a Diploma in Music.

Four years later Ranjan graduated from the Christian College, Madras, with Honors in Physics. The following year he won a re­search scholarship.

His thesis submitted for his Master’s de­gree in literature discussed European, Jap­anese and Chinese music. It was, in fact, a history of the world’s music and while work­ing on his thesis, Ranjan studied Western music and passed some of the examinations of the Trinity College of Music. Skilled in the playing of the violin and many Indian musical instruments, he is also an accomplished pianist.

The art of dancing, too, attracted him and he crammed study of it into his already crowd­ed schedule, soon acquiring remarkable profi­ciency in Bharata Natyam, Kathakali and Kathak.

He also sang over Madras Radio. His was a voice popular all over Southern India and his broadcasts included a series of talks on art.

The strong artistic urge in him then found expression in a new field. He acted in the Tamil films “Rishya Sringa” and “Narada,” playing the title role in both. These successes whetted his appetite and he went on to act in a third picture, playing the dual role in “Mangamma Sabattam.”

After this the world of scholarship again claimed Ranjan. He joined Madras University as a research fellow, with the Indian classical dance as his field of study. The thesis he wrote was titled “Varieties of Thirmanas and Jatis.”

The dormant urge to act in films again as­serted itself. Ranjan was offered the villain’s role in “Chandralekha” (Tamil’) and he ac­cepted it, playing the same role later in its Hindi version. He then featured in “Nishan” which followed almost immediately.

Meanwhile, he was conducting a school of music and dancing in Madras. The school has held five summer courses since it opened in 1941. In 1942 Ranjan married a talented dancer and musician, and both husband and wife went on a tour of South India giving dance recitals. For this tour he composed the dances and music, designed the costumes and led the ballet with his wife.

Ranjan’s work as a writer is also consi­derable. He has written books, plays (including a Tamil translation of Sheridan’s “Duenna”) and pamphlets on music. He is a regular contributor to magazines and ran his own art journal “Natyam” for some years.

Ranjan is an, aviator, holding a pilot’s “A” license. He is an athlete of no mean merit, riding, swimming, driving and play­ing cricket and soccer with the best of them, and is an excellent swordsman. Y.M.C.A. activities engage much of his attention as a voluntary worker.

In January Ranjan submitted a 1,500- page thesis. “Rhythmics In Music And Dancing” for a Doctorate in Music of Madras University.

In 1951, the Rockefeller Foundation of America awarded Ranjan a special scholar­ship to study American ballet, music and the theatre. But his assignment in “Man­gala” detained him and he could not go.

At the end of the shooting of “Mangala”­ Ranjan went on a week’s holiday to Ceylon, where he met Sir Carol Reed who was then filming “An Outcast Of The Islands” there. He then came to Bombay which he has since made his home.

Ranjan has just returned from a tour of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Russia and the Orient. From Moscow he travelled to Peking on the Trans-Siberian Railway, the journey taking eleven and a half days, and went on to Hongkong and Bangkok before returning to Bombay. On this extensive tour he met representatives of about fifty music groups of different countries.

On behalf of the Sur Singar Samsad, Ranjan is now arranging an International Music Conference which will be held in Bombay at the end of this year, or early next year. Music and dance organizations from all over the world are expected to partici­pate in it. He intends to attend the Moscow Festival of Music next year, leading an Indian contingent of musicians and dancers.

Ranjan is a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians which has its head­quarters in America, and is the President of the Bombay branch of the All-India Magicians’ Club, of which P. C. Sorcar is the President.

He is still a devoted social worker. The school he has built in Madras for Harijans will be formally opened this month by Mr. C. Rajagopalachari.

Among Ranjan’s forthcoming screen as­signments are roles in “Inquilab,” “Sapera,” “Shaan-e-Hind,” “Taj Poshi,” “Kismet” and “Baghi Sipahi.” He is associated with a new production unit, and for the first time he will wield the megaphone in its maiden venture, “Kala_Ghoda”. He will also make a picture in the South—”Sinbad the Sailor” (Tamil). (This profile was written in 1956).