A gifted artiste, Josefina Dias has excelled at singing as well as at acting, and her down to earth warm nature is appreciated both on and off stage
Like many other artistes of the Konkani stage Josefina Diaswas introduced to tiatr by her father in a home production. She showed signs ofbeing able to act as well as sing at a very early age, and this is whatprompted her father Casiano D’Costa to introduce his young daughter in his owntiatr, ‘Ti Mhoji Zav’ which was staged in Colva. Young Josefina excelled in herrole in the tiatr and received a lot of appreciation from the audience.
Later Josefina was cast in yet another of their homeproductions, ‘Birankul’ which had a successful run in the neighbouring villageof Colva. Josefina gained confidence with every performance and she found herway to a professional group and performed in the tiatr, ‘Maim Tum Asli Zalear’written and directed by Anton Soferian. From there on, there was no lookingback for this gifted artiste who excelled at acting as well as singing.
The TAG recently honoured Josefina Dias with the ‘LifetimeContribution to Tiatr Award 2012’, for her dedicated service to the Konkanistage. Speaking to The Goan on receiving the award, Josefina said, “I feltreally appreciated when I received this honour, for it was in recognition forall the sacrifice and work I had put in for the tiatr stage. There are stillmany artistes who have not gotten this award and I hope their work too will besuitably rewarded.”
Josefina Dias has sung many memorable duets and enactedmultiple roles for various directors. She has been cast mainly in comedic andsemi-comedic roles, but she had a special flair for enacting the role of atypical Goan ‘Kunbi’ woman. Recalling many of her ‘Kunbi’ roles, Josefina said,“Once, when I was performing the role of a Kunbi woman, the late Shri DayanandBandodkar, the first Chief Minister of Goa, who was present at the tiatractually sent someone back stage to verify whether I was actually a Kunbi womanin real life too!”
As a reputed singer with a clear and powerful voice,Josefina has recorded several audio albums; that number approximately 70 inall. Some of her most memorable duets, either comedy or serious have beenrendered in the pairing of Jr Rod. She has also produced one audio album of herown titled ‘Pordexi’.
Josephine is not seen much on the professional circuit inrecent years. “I have not given up on tiatr completely. I still act in thetiatrs staged at our church feast every year. But things are very differentnow. When I worked on-stage, monetary benefits were never our priority. Wehonoured our commitment. I do not feel very comfortable anymore,” saysJosephine.
