Noted Indian actress Devika rani’s beauty, grace and acting faculties was in limelimght everywhere, foreign media welcomed her in grand fashion. The Morning Post hailed the first lady of Indian cinema ‘Devika rani’ as one of the greatest stars talkie films have ever produced, while Observer quoted her as ‘Fresh and fascinating’ personality.
The lady described the actress as ‘the most beautiful’ creatures who have ever illuminted the silver screen. The paper further quotes ‘devika’s English is perfect, film technique is graceful. The Star said ‘Go and hear’ the English spoken by devika rani, one would never come across a lovelier voice or diction or lovelier face, devika rani has ‘singular’ beauty.
The Sunday pictorial and Daily despatch share similar views, Sunday pictorial said ‘devika rani is one of the most delicately glamorous cinema stars world has ever seen, the daily dispatch ranked devika rani much ahead of Hollywood blondes.
Born on 30th march, 1908, devika rani joined Himanshu rai’s production unit in1928. She joined as an assistant; during the shooting of ‘throw of dice’ they fell in love with each other and were wedlocked. Himanshu rai’s Film company ‘Bombay talkies’ was first to cast devika as heroine in ‘Karma’
Pairing Ashok kumar : Jeevan naiya, Achchut kanya, Janam bhoomi, Izzat and Savitri. Jeevan Naiya, Achchut Kanya and Karma are devika rani’s well known films
Jeevan Naiya: It was first Devika rani’s first hit film with Ashok kumar.film was box office splendor and went on to become Indian cinema’s one of finest expressions.
Achut kanya: It was screen adaptation of ‘the level crosing’ a short story by Niranyan.film talks of the tragic love between an ‘untouchable’ girl and a Brahmin youth.For its time and occasion ‘achut kanya’ emerged as a ‘great’ theme.
The film shot Devika rani and Ashok kumar to great heights.The film achieved credibility with ‘cameos’ of rural life and authencity of dialogues.Saraswati Devi’s music contributed a lot its popularity.
The times of India reviewed Devika rani’s class act as performance never seen or equaled on the indain screen, an absolute gem of acting.
With Husband Himanshu’s death in 1940, Bombay talkies control passed on Devika rani.Punar Milan (1940), Jhoola (1941), Naya sansar (1941) and Kismat (1943) are some of Devika rani guided films with S. mukherjee, Amiya chakravarty and Khwaja ahmad abbas.
In 1945 Devika quit films to marry noted Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich and retired to his grand estate at Bangalore where she lived till her death in 1994.
Awards: Dada saheb phalke award, The Padmashree, Soviet Land Nehru Award, Indian motion picture academy award and others.