1
The leading lady of the 1930s and 1940s, Shobhana Samarth, was born as Shobhana Shilotri on 17 November 1916. Dr PH Shilotri, M.A., Ph.D., initiated the Shilotri Bank of Bombay and was one of early founders of banking in India.
2
After her father's death, her mother's brother was quite against Shobhana joining films and wanted her to get married. Her family got a proposal from a young man, newly returned from Germany after a course in cinematography. His name was Kumarsen Samarth and he had no objections to his wife working after marriage.
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Her mother, Ratanbai Shilotri, had also acted in one Marathi film as Shivaji's mother, Swarajyachya Seemewar (1936), known in English as Frontiers of Freedom.
4
Samarth's first film, Nigaah-e-Nafrat (1935), also known as Orphans of Society, released a few months after she was married. The Marathi/Hindi bilingual social, directed by Master Vinayak, portrayed Samarth as Princess Indira and featured an English song, 'Puff Puff the Engine Said'.
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Samarth gave birth to her first child, Nutan, in June 1936 at the start of her career and continued to handle motherhood and stardom at the same time. She was considered an astute businesswoman of her time, and had herself and her family insured for high sums of that time period.
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Her husband, Kumarsen Samarth, directed her in two Hindi films, Shobha (1942) opposite Shahu Modak as a schoolteacher and Nala Damyanti (1945) opposite Prithiviraj Kapoor on the tale from the Mahabharat.
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Samarth was most well-known for her roles as Sita in filmmaker Vijay Bhatt's trilogy, Bharat Milaap (1941), Ram Rajhya (1943) and Rambaan (1948) opposite Prem Adib. The two actors were widely recognised at Ram and Sita and even appeared on calendars together.
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Two of her four children became actors. Samarth introduced both her daughters, Nutan and Tanuja, in her directorial debut, Hamari Beti (1950) under her banner, Shobhana Pictures. She also directed them in her second film, Chhabili (1960).
9
Shobhana's first cousin was the child artiste-turned-actor Nalini Jaywant, a popular actor during the 1940s to the 1950s.
10
Samarth's grandchildren, Mohnish Bahl, Kajol and Tanishaa, have all followed their grandmother into acting. Bahl is Nutan's, son while Kajol and Tanishaa are Tanuja's daughters.