Being filled with courage and determination for Nautanki, she became the first woman to join it. She started acting and working in nautanki groups at the young age of 12 or 13. She has been famous as a singer and an actor with no match for her. She is truly being synonymous with the diamond in the nautanki world as she learned the trade of nautanki from scratch. She has played the role of Rani Taramati in Harishchandra which was a very powerful role offering a vast scope of acting and was played with full colors. She did exceptional justice to the role of enacting various emotions on stage; be it Karuna, elegance, tragedy or Mamata of a mother or as a leader in the Samshan.
Gulab Bai is a perfectionist who has developed this craft of acting in nautanki of her own purely through her passion. She has been strict for the stage where she is Guru but has always been caring for her team of artists.
This veteran actor started her nautanki company after her breaking away from the Trimohan group. She also owns a theatre company. The woman has performed at many places including Gwalior, Indore and a lot of places in UP and Bihar. For her immutable contribution to the promotion of folk theatre (art), she has been awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi award and Padma Shri.
Nautanki has always been a male-dominated field of art. As she is a woman and a pioneer of receiving high gallantry awards for nautanki, she opened gates for other women artists’ entry in nautanki. Her life has been full of struggle and despite her family condition; she has lived up a life of a true artist. Being very kind-hearted at heart she has helped everyone who asks her for help.