Devika Rani
Encyclopedia
Devika Rani Chaudhuri Roerich (30 March 1908 – 9 March 1994) was an early Indian movie star.
), Devika Rani came from a distinguished background: she was the great-grandniece of the Nobel Laureate
Rabindranath Tagore
and her father, Col. M. N. Chaudhuri, was the first Indian Surgeon-General of Madras. Her mother's name was Leela.
She completed her early schooling in the early 1920s. She then studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
(RADA) and the Royal Academy of Music
in London, UK, where she won scholarships. She also studied architecture
, textile and decor design, and apprenticed under Elizabeth Arden
. Here, through her Brahmo connections, she met with scriptwriter Niranjan Pal
who would eventually write many of her most successful screen roles.
Devika Rani married Indian producer and actor Himanshu Rai
in 1929. Together they starred in Karma (1933). They soon founded the Bombay Talkies
film studio, along with retainers Niranjan Pal and Franz Osten
, whose films challenged the caste
system. In addition to Devika Rani, other notable actors to work for Bombay Talkies at one point or another included Ashok Kumar
and Madhubala
.
In 1936, Devika Rani eloped with her lover actor Najam-ul-Hassan. Himanshu Rai somehow managed to bring her back but her paramour did not return. And the studio head Himanshu Rai called upon his laboratory assistant Ashok Kumar
to take the leading man's part and thus began a six-decade-long acting career for that actor. Ashok Kumar later starred with the actress in Achhut Kanya
(1936). This, her most notable film, is the story of a relationship between an untouchable girl (played by herself) and a Brahmin
boy (played by Ashok Kumar).
Devika Rani is also accredited for having acted in the longest kissing scene
in the movie world with her husband Himanshu Rai in Karma (1933). It was 4 minutes long and very controversial in the then culturally orthodox India.
, she had to share control with Sashadhar Mukherjee
, but in 1943 Sashadhar, Ashok Kumar and a lot of Bombay talkies veterans left and formed a new studio - Filmistan
. After that Bombay Talkies started to fade and she married Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich
in 1945.
She left films and joined her husband in Bangalore http://www.screenindia.com/20020503/fspe.html in their sprawling estate 'Tataguni' on Kanakpura Road, where she lived till her death in 1994, though maintained her link with the film industry...
In 1958, the President of India
honoured Devika Rani with a Padma Shri
. In 1970, she became the first recipient of the prestigious film prize, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award
.
At her funeral, Devika Rani was given full state honors.
The Tataguni estate became famous for the dispute that ensued over it after her death as the Indian and Russian governments and relatives went to court over its control.
. Devika Rani's maternal grandmother Indumati Devi was the daughter of Tagore's elder sister Saudamini Devi; she thus is related matrilineally to Tagore. Her father M N Chaudhuri also belonged to an illustrious family of Bengal. Her uncles, i.e. her father's brothers, were famous men, like Justice Sir Ashutosh Chaudhuri, Barrister Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri, and author Pramatha Chaudhuri
.
Career
Born in Waltair (now VisakhapatnamVisakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam is a major sea port on the south east coast of India. With a population of approximately 1.7 million, it is the second largest city in the state of Andhra Pradesh and the third largest city on the east coast of India after Kolkata and Chennai. According to the history, the city was...
), Devika Rani came from a distinguished background: she was the great-grandniece of the Nobel Laureate
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
and her father, Col. M. N. Chaudhuri, was the first Indian Surgeon-General of Madras. Her mother's name was Leela.
She completed her early schooling in the early 1920s. She then studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
(RADA) and the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
in London, UK, where she won scholarships. She also studied architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
, textile and decor design, and apprenticed under Elizabeth Arden
Elizabeth Arden
Florence Nightingale Graham , who went by the business name Elizabeth Arden, was a Canadian-American businesswoman who built a cosmetics empire in the United States. At the peak of her career, she was one of the wealthiest women in the world.-Biography:Arden was born in 1884 at Woodbridge, Ontario,...
. Here, through her Brahmo connections, she met with scriptwriter Niranjan Pal
Niranjan Pal
Niranjan Pal was a playwright, screenwriter and director in the Indian film industry in the silent and early talkie days...
who would eventually write many of her most successful screen roles.
Devika Rani married Indian producer and actor Himanshu Rai
Himanshu Rai
Himanshu Roy , one of the pioneers of Indian cinema, is best known as the founder of the Bombay Talkies in 1934. He was associated with a number of movies, including Goddess , The Light of Asia , Siraj , A Throw of Dice , and Karma .He was married to actress Devika Rani.-Bombay Talkies:He was...
in 1929. Together they starred in Karma (1933). They soon founded the Bombay Talkies
Bombay Talkies
The Bombay Talkies Limited was a movie studio produced 102 movies, founded in 1934 in Malad, Bombay , India, by Himanshu Rai, Rajnarayan Dube and Devika Rani along with businessmen like F. E...
film studio, along with retainers Niranjan Pal and Franz Osten
Franz Osten
Franz Osten was a German filmmaker who along with Niranjan Pal was among the first retainers of Bombay Talkies. Osten partnered with Pal on a number of India's earliest blockbuster films like Achhut Kanya and Jeevan Naiya.-Early life:He was born as Franz Ostermayr in Munich on 23 December 1876...
, whose films challenged the caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
system. In addition to Devika Rani, other notable actors to work for Bombay Talkies at one point or another included Ashok Kumar
Ashok Kumar
Ashok Kumar also fondly called Dadamoni was an Indian film actor. Born Kumudlal Ganguly in Bhagalpur, Bengal Presidency he attained iconic status in Indian cinema...
and Madhubala
Madhubala
Mumtaz Jahan Begum Dehlavi, known by her stage name Madhubala was a Hindi movie actress. She starred in several successful movies in the 1950s and early 1960s, many of which have attained a classic status...
.
Ashok Kumar
Ashok Kumar also fondly called Dadamoni was an Indian film actor. Born Kumudlal Ganguly in Bhagalpur, Bengal Presidency he attained iconic status in Indian cinema...
to take the leading man's part and thus began a six-decade-long acting career for that actor. Ashok Kumar later starred with the actress in Achhut Kanya
Achhut Kanya
Achhoot Kanya is a 1936 Hindi film. Among the early super-hits in the Bombay film industry, the film deals with the social position of Dalit girls and is considered a reformist period-piece.The film was one of several successful Bombay Talkies collaborations between Franz Osten, Niranjan Pal,...
(1936). This, her most notable film, is the story of a relationship between an untouchable girl (played by herself) and a Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
boy (played by Ashok Kumar).
Devika Rani is also accredited for having acted in the longest kissing scene
French kiss
A French kiss is a kiss in which one participant's tongue touches the partner's lips or tongue and usually enters his or her mouth. A French kiss is a slow passionate kiss which is usually considered intimate, romantic, erotic or sexual...
in the movie world with her husband Himanshu Rai in Karma (1933). It was 4 minutes long and very controversial in the then culturally orthodox India.
Later life
Widowed in 1940, she fought for control of her husband's studio Bombay TalkiesBombay Talkies
The Bombay Talkies Limited was a movie studio produced 102 movies, founded in 1934 in Malad, Bombay , India, by Himanshu Rai, Rajnarayan Dube and Devika Rani along with businessmen like F. E...
, she had to share control with Sashadhar Mukherjee
Sashadhar Mukherjee
Sashadhar Mukherjee was a producer in Hindi films. He is part of the distinguished Mukherjee clan of Bollywood.Main article: Mukherjee-Samarth family...
, but in 1943 Sashadhar, Ashok Kumar and a lot of Bombay talkies veterans left and formed a new studio - Filmistan
Filmistan
Filmistan was a film production company and film studio of Indian film industry from Goregaon, Mumbai. It is located very near to Patkar College on SV road spread over seven acres. Many students have claimed to see superstars in the studio. Patkar College's reputation has increased due to this...
. After that Bombay Talkies started to fade and she married Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich
Svetoslav Roerich
Svetoslav Nikolaevich Roerich Russian painter, son of Nicholas Roerich, studied from a young age under his father's tutelage. He studied architecture in England in 1919 and entered Columbia University's school of architecture in 1920...
in 1945.
She left films and joined her husband in Bangalore http://www.screenindia.com/20020503/fspe.html in their sprawling estate 'Tataguni' on Kanakpura Road, where she lived till her death in 1994, though maintained her link with the film industry...
In 1958, the President of India
President of India
The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
honoured Devika Rani with a Padma Shri
Padma Shri
Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
. In 1970, she became the first recipient of the prestigious film prize, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award
Dadasaheb Phalke Award
The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in cinema given annually by the Government of India for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. It was instituted in 1969, the birth centenary year of Dadasaheb Phalke, considered as the father of Indian cinema.The award for a particular year is...
.
At her funeral, Devika Rani was given full state honors.
The Tataguni estate became famous for the dispute that ensued over it after her death as the Indian and Russian governments and relatives went to court over its control.
Trivia
- Devika Rani is best remembered for her discovery of Dilip KumarDilip KumarDilip Kumar , is an Indian actor and a former Member of Parliament.He lives in Pali Hill, Bandra in Mumbai, India. He is commonly known as "Tragedy King",and is described as "the ultimate method actor" by Satyajit Ray....
. - Despite being an actress of the Thirties, she was most accomplished and modern in every sense.
- She was a student of architecture in London and met Himanshu Rai there, where she had agreed to design the sets for his film production....
- Mr.Rai was the only Indian producer with the famous German film concern U.F.A. in Berlin. At the U.F.A. Studios, Devika Rani learnt costumes designing, make-up, decor and other different branches of film production with special training in acting.
- At the time, Devika Rani also acted with Himansu Rai in a play for U.F.A. which took them to Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries, where they were received with the highest honours.
- It was in "KARMA" that Devika Rani established herself as a "star" of first magnitude. During the screening of "KARMA", Devika Rani was honoured by an invitation of the B.B.C. at London to act in the first television broadcast in Britain which was relayed throughout the country. She was also chosen to inaugurate the first B.B.C. broadcast on the short wave length to India.
- She was a member of the Central Government Audio Visual Education Board.
- She was also nominated to the National Academy of Dance, Drama, Music and Films, the Sangeet Natak AkademiSangeet Natak AkademiSangeet Natak Akademi is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India.-History:...
, Delhi, as a nominee of the Central Government. - She was a member of the Executive Board of the National Academy, Member of the Lalit Kala AkademiLalit Kala AkademiThe Lalit Kala Akademi or National Academy of Art is India's National Academy of Arts. It was an autonomous organization, established at New Delhi in 1954 by Government of India to promote and propagate understanding of Indian art, both within and outside the country...
and the National Handicrafts Board and Member of the Indian Council for Cultural RelationsIndian Council for Cultural RelationsThe Indian Council for Cultural Relations , is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India, involved in India’s external cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their peoples...
. - Equally invaluable is the prestigious Soviet Land Nehru award conferred on her in 1989.
Family background
Devika Rani was the great grandniece of Rabindranath TagoreRabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
. Devika Rani's maternal grandmother Indumati Devi was the daughter of Tagore's elder sister Saudamini Devi; she thus is related matrilineally to Tagore. Her father M N Chaudhuri also belonged to an illustrious family of Bengal. Her uncles, i.e. her father's brothers, were famous men, like Justice Sir Ashutosh Chaudhuri, Barrister Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri, and author Pramatha Chaudhuri
Pramatha Chaudhuri
Pramathanath Chaudhuri , known as Pramatha Chaudhuri, alias Birbal, is an exceptionally illuminating persona in modern Bengali literature. It is astounding how he kept hold of his uniqueness in all-pervasive era of Rabindranath Tagore...
.
External links
- The Roerich & Devika Rani estate board, Karnataka Govt, India
- http://www.screenindia.com/20020503/fspe.html
- http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20011215/windows/main1.htm