indian cinema heritage foundation

Vasanti

Artists
  • Real Name: Vasanti Vinayakrao Ghorpade
  • Born: 26 March 1924 (Kolhapur)
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Vasanti Vinayak Gorpade was known as the first child artist and playback singer of Marathi Cinema. She became highly popular in a short span of time owing to her extremely good looks, acting abilities, intelligence as well as her amazing singing abilities. She was also referred to as the Indian “Shirley Temple.” 


Born in Kolhapur, Vasanti was noticed by the famous filmmaker V Shantaram who also happened to be her neighbor. He was quite impressed by her singing and acting abilities and gave her a chance to act in films which the young girl readily accepted. She started her career as a child artist and singer in the Marathi film Dharmatama (1935). A ten-year-old Vasanti awed the audience with her performance and left a lasting impression. Her next film was the 1937 Marathi film Kunku which was also highly acclaimed by the audiences and was rewarded the “Gohar Puraskar.”


Her career as a child singer was also equally bright and the audiences loved her as a singer as much as an actor. She was trained in classical singing by the laureates of Khan Saheb Dhammankhan and Pandit Vamanrav Sajholikar which reflected highly in her career as a playback singer in Marathi and Hindi cinema. She also worked in a few Hindi films like Amar Jyoti (1936), Achhut (1940), Diwali (1940), Musafir (1940), Beti (1941), Dukh Sukh (1942), Aapki Marzi, Bhakt Raj (1960), and Bhagyalaxmi (1961). Bhakt Raj was her first film as a young actress. She then married the Gujarati filmmaker Indubhai Patel. 


Her career as a child actor spanned over 12-15 films and left a remarkable mark on the audiences through her performances. She later left the film industry to focus on her marriage and her three kids.