Durga Khote (née Vita Lad; 14 January 1905 − 22 September 1991) was an Indian actress, beginning as one of the foremost leading ladies of her time.

In 2000, in a millennium issue, India Today named her among "100 People Who Shaped India", noting: "Durga Khote marks the pioneering phase for women in Indian Cinema",[1] she was one of the first women from respectable families to enter the film industry, thus breaking a social taboo.

[2] She also ranks among the top ten actresses in mother roles in Hindi cinema,[3] most notable among them were as Jodhabai in K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam (1960), which earned her a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress; as Kaikeyi in Vijay Bhatt's classic Bharat Milap (1942); her other memorable roles as mother were in Charnon Ki Dasi (1941); Mirza Ghalib (1954); Bobby (1973) and Bidaai (1974), winning the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for the lattermost.

In doing so, she became a pioneer of sorts: She hailed from a traditional family and the film industry was regarded as the preserve of the base and the bawdy.

[8][9] The characters played by her were very much like her regal personality and she commanded a screen presence even in front of legendary actors like Chandra Mohan, Sohrab Modi and Prithviraj Kapoor.

[10] In 1937, she produced and directed a film titled Saathi, making her one of the first women to step into this role in Indian cinema.

[12] Durga Khote played a wide variety of roles over a career that was not only long, but also untouched by scandal.

Her portrayal of Jodhabai, the queen of Akbar torn between duty towards her husband and love towards her son in Mughal-e-Azam (1960) was highly acclaimed and earned her a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.

His family was upper middle class , with modern English education and high social standing; his ancestors had been prominent bankers.

The fact that she came from a modern and English-educated family meant that, even as a widow, she was able to act in films, which was derided as a disreputable profession in those days.

Nandu's daughter is the actress Shubha Khote, who debuted in Seema (1955) and worked as a heroine in several films before moving to character roles.

The socialite and politician Sharda Mukherjee (née Sharada Pandit), who herself served as governor of the states of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, and who was the wife of Subroto Mukherjee, India's first Chief of the Air Staff, was Durga Khote's first cousin (her mother's sister's daughter).