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I, Durga Khote is the account of the life and work of an actress who entered the world of Indian films when women from respectable families were still forbidden to do so. The era of silent movies was coming to an end, and the new talkies gave Durga Khote the opportunity to showcase her talent. Catapulted into the film industry by early marriage and premature widowhood, her autobiography reveals Khote’s grit in the face of tragedy, her determination to be independent, and her constant desire to learn. While her professional life was marked by success, her personal life was overshadowed by disappointments and tragedies. Durgabai weaves together the bright and dark strands of her life with the skill of a born storyteller and in a style that is lively, crisp, direct, and often humourous. She goes beyond the narrowly personal to give first-hand glimpses of the social, political, and cultural life of the times. Durga Khote emerges from these pages not as a woman exploited by the world of men but as one who went out into the world and explored it with zest. Shanta Gokhale’s translation from the Marathi (published in 1982) retains the flavours and nuances of the original work. Gayatri Chatterjee’s Introduction discusses the genre of personal writing, particularly in Marathi literature, and contextualizes I, Durga Khote within it.
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