Kamlabai

Kamlabai Gokhale was one of the first actors of India, and the first lady of Indian film. She is ninety-two years old now and lives by herself in a flat. Family members come to visit her now and then. She is an invalid, confined to her bed. But her personality is unwavering and she beams forth power when she recalls her former parts in peaces by Shakespeare and in Indian epics, or when she talks of the poverty she had to fight against. The basis of the documentary are conversations with Kamlabai Gokhale. Her present and past are discussed through photographs, parts from a play Kamlabai acts out again, and music from the beginning of this century. However, the film is not purely nostalgic. It gives an impression of the history and the changes, particularly the history of Indian film and theatre as it was experienced by a woman who struggled against the social structures of her times.