This new illustrated book tells the stories of inspiring women from Maharashtra

A star Named Bibha and Other Stories HarperCollins by Anwesha Sengupta Supurna Banerjee and Sumantini Mukhopadhyay is a new collection of short biographies of 30 women who challenged the sociocultural norms existing in India during the late 19th and mid20th century Itrsquos a little history of India told through its women packed with gorgeous illustrations by Mistunee ChowdhuryWe bring you seven fascinating facts that we learnt through the book1 In 1907 Bhikaji Cama a Parsi woman from Bombay designed the earliest version of the Indian national flag She carried her flag to a conference in Stuttgart Germany where several politicians had gathered from countries under colonial rule It bore three colours green saffron and red to celebrate the many religions followed by people in the country It also had the words lsquoVande Mataramrsquo written on it2 Initially theatres did not hire women actors womenrsquos roles were played by men Durgabai Kamat and her daughter Kamlabai became the first Indian female actors to be cast in a film Durgabai was from a Marathi Brahmin family and trained in music and dance She left her abusive husband to make a life for herself and feed her child Thatrsquos when she joined the Chittakarshak Natak Company On their tour to Nashik she was discovered by Dadasaheb Phalke who had been looking for females to play Goddess Parvati and her daughter Mohini in his new filmParbatibai Bhore Mary DrsquoSouza Sequeira and Durgabai Kamat3 Even though Bandra girl Mary DrsquoSouza Sequeira didnrsquot have much support from her family or a girlrsquos playground to practise on she worked day and night to become one of the best sprinters and hockey players in the country and soon an Olympian representing India in 1952 At the Asian Games in Delhi in 1951 she had already won two medals at the track events For the Helsinki Olympics she had to raise funds to support herself She managed to do so by teaching and with the help of her friends4 In the 1940s after the arrest of leaders Ranadive and Dange Parbatibai Bhore a textile worker led the strike by workers of Bombay against unjust owners of textile mills The union asked for respectable wages for their labour and fair price shops where they could buy things at subsidised rates Even though she faced resistance at every stage in her life as a Dalit she continued to stand up for the rights of women especially women workersShantabai Kamble and Uma Devi Khatri AKA Tun Tun5 Bai Jaddanbai was a woman of extraordinary talents She was a film director producer and an actor But she was most celebrated for her voice She wrote her own poems sang her own songs and composed her own music She travelled across the country to sing in the royal courts of the rajas of several states When the first Indian talkie Alam Ara was made in 1931 and songs began to be added to films she was in great demand Later she opened her own company called Sangeet Studio becoming one of the earliest female composers to contribute to cinema and produced films like Madam Fashion 1936 and Jeevan Swapna 19376 Shantabai Kamblersquos autobiography is the first one to be written by a Dalit woman She had a troubled childhood while growing up in Solapur where she was laughed at in school for wearing wornout clothes and not allowed inside her friendrsquos home She was hardworking and continued her studies took a teacherrsquos training course and then taught in schools She was deeply inspired by Dr BR Ambedkarrsquos ideas after meeting him and also convertedto Buddhism7 Uma Devi Khatri known by her screen name Tun Tun became the first Indian comedienne after getting a role in Dilip Kumarrsquos Babul 1950 She had a great sense of humour but was given only certain kinds of roles most of the time often portraying an overweight woman with dreams While that scenario seemed funny to the audience of the time she fought the stereotypes of dainty women in the industry with charm and added nuance and life to her roles Before she acted she also sang in Naushad Alirsquos film Wamiq Azra 1946 fulfilling her childhood dreamAvailable Leading bookstores and estores