Kavasji Palanji Khatau

Kavasji Palanji Khatau, also spelled Cowasji Palanji Khatao (1857 – 16 August 1916) was a singer, actor, director, and owner of a Parsi theatre company, who started his career with the Empress Victoria Theatrical Company. Despite opposition from his employers, he introduced Mary Fenton, his wife and the first Anglo-Indian actress,

Life Khatau was born into a poor Parsi family in 1857, and brought up in a house opposite the Dukkar Bazar (pig market) in the Dhobi Talao area of Bombay (now Mumbai). He was an avid reader in childhood and could read and recite Shakespeare's plays. He started acting in 1875 and subsequently caught the attention of Jehangir Pestonjee Khambatta, who owned the Empress Victoria Theatrical Company. Khatau joined the Company in 1877 following which Khambatta taught him stagecraft. Khatau then trained her in singing and acting in the 1870s.

Fenton acted in Nanabhai Ranina's Nazan Shirin (1881), Bamanji Kabra's Bholi Gul (Innocent Flower, 1882, based on Ellen Wood's English novel East Lynne), Agha Hasan Amanat's Urdu opera Inder Sabha, Khambatta's Khudadad (The Gift of God, 1898, based on Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre), Gamde ni Gori (Village Nymph, 1890), Alauddin (1891), Tara Khurshid (1892), Kaliyug (1895) He was also a musician and his songs for Alibaba became popular.

He was honoured for his contribution to Gujarati and Urdu theatre in 1908. He died on 16 August 1916 on a tour in Lahore.