Angur Bala

Prabhabati, also known as Angur Bala or Sangeet Samragyee, was an Indian actor and singer. She was born in July 1896 in Bengal, at present, West Bengal, India. At an early age, she joined the stage and started singing professionally due to poverty. Dance master Lalit Mohan Goswami took Angur Bala to Star Theatre and gave her the name Angur Bala. She then became a regular performer at the Minerva Theatre, appearing in plays such as Baruna (1923), Atmadarshan (1925), Jug Mahatmo (1926), and Jatichyuta (1928). Angur Bala appeared in different plays at the Star Theatre, Rangmahal, Kalika, and other stages in Calcutta. In 1923, her first film, a silent one, Indrasabha was released. Jamuna Puliney (1933) was her first talkie in which she played the role of Brindey.

Angur Bala made her presence felt in singing roles in films like Radha Krishna (1933), Char Darvesh (1933), Naseeb Ka Chakkar (1936), Maa Ki Mamta (1936), Abartan (1936), Indira (1937), Devjani (1939) and many others in several different languages like Urdu, Tamil, and Telugu. During her peak, she was a huge recording artist and she was invited to sing in court by the Nizam of Hyderabad. She started to sing from the very first day broadcasting started for the radio. Her first song on the radio was Nithura Nagara Shyam. Angur Bala won Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and honorary D.Litt from Kalyani University. She died at 87, on January 7, 1984, in Kolkata, India.