Clare de Mendonça

Film critic with the Evening News of India (c. 1931) and the Times of India (c. 1933-1953). Daughter of Goan educationist, Isidore Mendonca. Graduated from St. Xavier’s College, Bombay University. Was elected Vice President of the Film Journalists Association when it was founded in Bombay in 1939. She shared the post with Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, while Baburao Patel was elected President. At the time of her premature death, Mendonca was writing weekend film reviews in TOI’s Sunday supplement and had a large readership base. To honor her memory, the Filmfare Award was briefly named the Clare Award when first instituted in 1954.