Hansa Wadkar

Hansa Wadkar (1923–1971) was a Marathi and Hindi film and stage actress. She started her acting career in Indian cinema at the age of thirteen years, as a heroine in the bilingual film Vijaychi Lagne (1936). Wadkar went on to make a name for herself working in reputable film companies like Bombay Talkies, Prabhat Film Company and National Studios. Her career-defining role was in Vishnupant Damle's Sant Sakhu (1941) where she enacted the role of the female saint Sakhu. Her other memorable roles are in the Tamasha genre films like Lokshahir Ram Joshi (1947), termed as the "Classic Marathi Tamasha musical" and Sangtye Aika (1959), another of Marathi cinema's "best known Tamasha films". The title "Sangtye Aika" was used by Wadkar for her autobiography compiled in 1971. The autobiography was initially serialised in the Marathi magazine Manoos helped by journalist Arun Sadhu.