Umasashi

Umasashi is an Indian film actress. She has predominantly worked in the Bengali movie industry. She has appeared in many roles and played different characters in many movies, especially between the years 1929 to 1951. Her on-screen pairings with actors Durgadas Bannerjee Durgadas Bannerjee was an Indian actor and singer >> Read More... , Pahari Sanyal Pahari Sanyal was born on February 22, 1906, in Da >> Read More... , K.L. Saigal, and Prithviraj Kapoor One of the most notable names in the Indian film i >> Read More... were popular in those days. She was born in 1915 in Calcutta. Her father Nilmani Chattopadhyay, is from Dhaka, Bangladesh, but he later settled in Kolkata. Nilmani was a Kirtan artist and sometimes acted as a Jatra artist in local drama groups. She got her dance and music training at a very young age. Miss Satkari Ganguly was Umasashi’s first music and dance teacher. As Satkari Ganguly was an actor, she took Uma to stage, where she started working as a group dancer in the theatre like Minerva, Russa, and Alfred. Soon Uma played minor roles in Jatras and became a part of Cox Bazar, Chittagong, etc. She was also a perfectionist of her time.

She has appointed several Hindi, Urdu, and English tutors for the perfect pronunciation of these languages. She did her first debut in a silent movie known as Bangabala in a small role of Subarna. The other silent movies in which she acted are Abhishek and Bigraha. After her debut movie, she had to quit from Jatra group because the authorities would not allow their paid staff to work in films. Meanwhile, she has started recording songs for Colombia and then to Hindustan Musical Products as Smt. Uma Devi.

She appeared in a major hit movie, Dena Paowna, where she acted in a crowd scene and sang a song. Legendary music director Pankaj Kumar Mallick trained her. Umasashi’s first leading role was in Chandidas in 1932 of New Theatres, where she played the role of Rami. Umasahi attended the BFJA award-giving ceremony as a chief guest. She got Hero Honda Award as the Living Legend in 2000. Umasahi was married to Mr. Guru Prasad Dev, an attorney. Her husband was already married, and Uma had to share her house with his first wife. Umasahi died on December 6, 2000. Under some circumstances, the news of her death came later.

Another Version of the Bio...

Umasashi was a popular Indian Bengali actress. She performed many roles from 1929 to 1951. She was born in 1915 in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India. Her father was Nilmani Chattopadhyay who was a Kirtan artist and now and then acted as a Jatra artist in a local Jatra group. Her mother’s name was Radharani Chattopadhyay. She received very little formal education due to scarcity of wealth in the family but her training in dance and music started at an early age. Her first dance and music teacher was Miss Satkari Ganguly. Miss Satkari was an actress herself so, she introduced Uma to theatre and stage. Uma performed as a group dancer in theatrical plays like Minerva, Alfred, and Russa.

Soon, she started playing minor roles and became a part of an on-road Jatra group from Kolkata to different fragments of undivided Bengal like Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, etc. She received lessons from various Hindi, Urdu, and English teachers to perfect her punctuation in these languages. Her first debut was Bangabala, a silent movie. She had to quit the stage for this as the authorities did not allow workers to perform in the film. She played the role of Subarna in this film. She has performed in other silent films like Bigraha and Abhishek. She also recorded songs for Columbia Records and then for Hindusthan Musical Products. Her first Bengali sound film was Dena Paona which became very popular.

She got training in singing from the fabulous music director Pankaj Kumar Mallick and recorded songs such as 'Duniya rang rangili baba' with him for the film Dharti Mata. Her first leading role was in the film Chandidas where she played the role of Rami. She has performed in various films, some of them are Lehari Lutera, Bishnu Maaya, Bhagya Laxmi, Mohabbat Ki Kasauti, Anath Ashram, and Bhagya Chakra. She received the Hero Honda award as a living legend in 2000.

She also appeared in BFJA award-giving ceremony as a chief guest She married Mr. Guru Prasad Dev, an attorney by profession, and became a member of the Shobhabazar Rajbari. She had three sons and a daughter, Gouranga Narayan, Soumendra Narayan, Sourendra Narayan, Kanaklata. She died on 6th December 2000.