Arvind Dias shares a beautiful friendship with his mother, Josephine. For him, she
is someone he can confide in, absorb positive vibes from and stay true to his
roots. A noted tiatrist and a Goa State Awardee, Josephinehas dedicated over
six decades of her life to the Konkani stage. As Josephine celebrates her 70th
birthday today, her son feels that this occasion is a great opportunity to
share her life story with the people who love her.
Josephine was born and brought up in Colva, before she shifted
to St Cruz, North Goa after marriage. Born to Maria Santana and Cassiano
D’Costa, Josephine, grew up watching her father writing, directing and acting
in tiatrs. She started her career in tiatrs as a singer and her big break as an
actress came in 1963, when her father cast her in his tiatr ‘Ti Moji Maim’.
“As an actress, my mother can fit into any kind of role. She
loves playing character roles and she was recently on stage in Sharon
Mazarello’s tiatr, ‘Tukai Tench Assa’, where she enthralled the audience with
her superb performance, resulting in all the directors asking her to return to
the stage once again,” says Arvind.
As an actor, Josephine has toured countries such as Kuwait,
Bahrain, Muscat, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, working in tiatrs written and directed by
Minguel Rod, C Alvares, Prem Kumar, John Claro, Jacinto Vaz, M Boyer, Aristides
Dias, Mike Mehta, Anil Kumar, Wilmix, Seby Coutinho, Jephsis Hitler, Rico Rod,
Nelson, Menino de Bandar, Alfred Rose, C D’Silva, F Cardozo and Menino De
Bandar, to name a few.
As a singer, she has produced one cassette, entitled ‘Pordexi’,and
has lent her voice to more than 70 Konkani audio albums. Many of her songs can
be heard even today, especially those sung along with Jr Rod. She has also sung
for audio albums produced by Felcy, F Cardozo, Socorro de Santa Cruz, Aniceto
and others.
For her dedicated and outstanding services to the tiatr stage,
she has been felicitated by various organisations such as Social Welfare
Association St Cruz, Segundo Bairro Association, Cortalim Sports and Cultural
Club, Kuwait Goans club, Kuwait and she has also bagged the Dr Jack De Sequeira
Lifetime Achievement Award, Tiatr Academy of Goa Lifetime Achievement Award,
Goa State Award 2014-2015. She was felicitated in London by the Goan Heritage
Cultural Club.
Currently, Josephine has taken a break from acting in tiatrs and
is actively involved in church activities. She is a Eucharistic Minister and
was a member of the Church Parish Council, also leading the Charismatic Renewal
group in Santa Cruz Parish.
As
part of her birthday celebration, the book release of ‘Mogan Morn’, a romance
novel in Romi Konkani by her husband, late F X Dias, will be held today, July
19, 2018, at Santa Cruz Church Hall, Santa Cruz at 8:30pm in the presence of
her son, Arvind, and daughter-in-law, Tania.