Durgabai Kamat was a Marathi theatre actress who went on to become the first actress of Indian cinema. During the early 20th century, cinema was just a rising industry in India and it was a space reserved exclusively for men. It was in considered a taboo for women to be part of cinema. It’s said that Dadasaheb Phalke, now known as the Father of Indian Cinema, could not manage to find even one female actor to act in his movie Raja Harishchandra (1913). Such was the condition that Phalke finally had to cast a male actor to play the role of Harishcharndra’s wife, Taramati. It was during that age that Durgabai Kamat took the courageous step of pursuing a career in acting, paving the way for numerous other women in the industry.
Source:https://www.shethepeople.tv/home-top-video/durgabai-kamat-first-actress-indian-cinema/