The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will instal a statue of Nati Binodini, the most popular actor of Bengali stage, soon.
The statue will be installed opposite Star Theatre in Ward 17 of KMC. The initiative to instal the statue was taken by Mohan Kumar Gupta, the local councillor.
This is for the first time when the statue of Binodini (1863-1941) will be installed in the city.
Binodini shot to fame after her acting in Chaitanyalila, a drama written and directed by Girish Chandra Ghosh. Sri Ramakrishna had gone to Star Theatre on 21 September, 1884 to see her acting and blessed her saying: “Be Conscious (tomar chaitanya hok)”. The Statesman had carried the news captioned: “Soul dissolves in Harishankirtan”. Chaitanyalila had opened a new chapter in Bengali theatre. The British government had run two pairs of special trains from Santipur in Nadia to facilitate the Vaishnava devotees to come to Calcutta (Kolkata) to see the drama.
The drama, where Binodini acted, was a super-hit. The songs of Chaitanyalila became so popular that people used to sing them while offering puja.
Binodini left theatre at the age of 23 years in 1886. She died in 1941.
During her long life, she took part in social service helping children of lesser God to get themselves admitted to Calcutta Medical College and Hospital and Hindu School. She knew Narendra Nath Dutta, who later became Swami Vivekananda from his youth.
Binodini wrote her autobiography Amar Katha whose foreword was written by Girish Chandra Ghosh. Later, the book was edited by Saumitra Chattopadhyay and Nirmalya Acharya. Binodini used to stay at Star Lane behind Star Theatre. A gallery on her life and work has been set up by the state government at Star Theatre.