Pawar was born as Amba Laxman Rao Sagun on 18 April 1916, into an orthodox family in
Yeola in
Nashik. Her father Laxman Rao Shagun was a rich silk and cotton piecegoods merchant. She started her acting career at age nine in the film
Raja Harishchandra (1928), and later went on to play lead roles in the silent era and 1940s films, in a career that lasted until the end of her life, spanning seven
decades. She co-produced and acted in a silent film
Kailash (1932), and later produced another film
Duniya Kya Hai in 1938, a talkie. In 1942, as a part of a scene in the movie
Jung-E-Azadi, actor
Master Bhagwan was to slap her hard. Being a new actor, he accidentally slapped her very hard, which resulted in facial paralysis and a burst left eye vein. Three years of treatment later, she was left with a defective left eye; thus she had to abandon lead roles, and switch to character roles, which won her much of her fame later in life. She also played the leading lady with the top heroes of the era like
Paidi Jairaj,
Trilok Kapoor,
Gajanan Jagirdar etc. She was known particularly for playing
maternal figures, especially wicked
matriarchs or
mothers-in-law. She also notably played the strict but kind Mrs. L. D'Sa in
Anari (1959) with
Raj Kapoor. Under
Hrishikesh Mukherjee's direction, she gave the performance of a lifetime, for which she received the
Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award. Also, as the tough matriarch who falls in love in
Professor (1962), and the devious hunchback
Manthara in
Ramanand Sagar's television series
Ramayan. She was honored by the Government of India as the first lady of Indian cinema in 1961. ==Personal life==