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Devika Rani Roerich Biography

Devika Rani Chaudhary Roerich (March 30, 1908 – March 9, 1994) was an early Indian movie star.

Born in Waltair (now Vishakhapatnam), Devika Rani came from a distinguished background: she was the great-grand-niece 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.

Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar in Achhut Kanya, 1936.

She completed her early schooling in the early 1920s. She then studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art 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 Delhi, a large exhibition of S. Roerich’s paintings opens and is open for a month. The exhibition is ceremonially opened by the Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. Then, S. Roerich receives from the Soviet Government an invitation to go to Moscow with the exhibition of his works. In April, Svetoslav and his wife go to his Motherland, which he has not seen for almost forty-five years. The exhibition opens in Moscow in May 1960, in the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. During the time of the exhibition, the brother of the painter, George Roerich, dies suddenly. After Moscow, the exhibition is shown with great success at the Hermitage in Leningrad, where the painter goes to make necessary arrangements. In Moscow, S. Roerich, as the only heir, gives the personal library of his brother to the Institute of Orientalists, where the Memorial Room of Professor George Roerich opens. Then, he addresses himself to the Government with the request to give the paintings of his father, and thew artworks of the Orient, which are left in the flat of George Roerich, to any state museum, but nothing is achieved. He also addresses himself to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR with the request to take charge of the Institute of the Himalayan Researches in Kulu.

In 1936, Devika Rani eloped with her lover actor Najam-ul-Hussain. 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, action. Ashok Kumar later starred with the actress in Achhut Kanya (1936). This is the story of a relationship between an untouchable girl (played by Devika) and a Brahmin boy (played by Ashok Kumar). It is her most notable film.

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.

Widowed in 1940, she fought for control of her husband's studio Bombay Talkies, 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 Svetos1av Roerich in 1945. She left films and joined her husband in Bangalore.

In 1958, the President of India honored Devika Rani with a Padma Shri. In 1970, she became the first recipient of the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

In later years, she settled in Bangalore with her second husband Svetoslav Roerich and built the Tataguni estate on Kanakpura Road. The estate is 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.

At her funeral, Devika Rani was given full state honors.

She was educated in England and while at School, she received a scholarship from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Royal Academy of Music in London to study acting and music.

She took up the study of applied arts in London, specialising in textile designing and decor, and also studied architecture. At an early age, she was already earning her living as a textile designer at a leading art studio in London.

While in London in 1928, she met the well-known Indian producer Himansu Rai who produced famous Indian films like "The Light of Asia", "Shiraz" and "A Throw of Dice" for Indian and international markets.

Mr.Rai persuaded Devika Rani to join his production unit, to further the cause of Indian films. She signed a contract in London with Mr.Bruce Wolfe who was then associated with Himansu Rai. She later returned to India with Himansu Rai and his English and German experts to work on "A Throw of Dice" which was scheduled for production for England, Germany and the Continent. She worked on the costumes and sets of this production under the guidance of the art director Promod Roy and studied the art of production.

In 1929, she married Himansu Rai and returned with him to Germany. 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.

She apprenticed in the Eric Pommer production unit at U.F.A., where she studied the art and techniques of acting under the guidance of Germany's great director Pabst, and other famous directors.

She was a U.F.A. at the time of the epoch-making change over from silent to the talkie films, and with Himansu Rai had the rare opportunity of seeing and studying the various changes and experiments in the new talking pictures.

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.

She was also a student in the production unit of the famous State producer Max Heinhardt in Germany. From Germany, Devika Rani and Himansu Rai returned to India, to produce their first international talking picture "KARMA" in which Devika Rani, Himansu Rai, Princess Suda Rani of Burdwan and others acted. "KARMA" was produced both in English and Hindusthani and was completed at the Stall Studios in London. It was the first Indian talking picture in English and Hindusthani to be released in England and on the Continent as well as Indian.

"KARMA" was received with the highest approbation by the public of London. The premier was inaugurated by Lord Irwin and attended by the highest officials and England's most distinguished artiste. The same success was accorded to "KARMA" throughout Great Britain and wherever it was released.

The release of "KARMA" in India created a sensation, it was the beginning of a new era in Indian motion picture production.

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.

The Bombay Talkies Ltd., was founded by Himansu Rai and Devika Rani in 1934 in Malad, Bombay. It was a public limited company formed by eminent businessmen of Bombay including F.E.Dinhsaw, Sir Firoze Sethna and others. The advent of the Bombay Talkies gave an impetus to Indian films.

It was Himansu Rai's idea to attract to films the best elements of society as he believed that education and a cultured background where essential to achieve high standards in art.

The Bombay Talkies set a new standard in motion picture production in India on most up-to-date lines with experts from England, Germany, France who also trained young Indian men and women in the art and techniques of films production. It was responsible for a vast number of famous producers, directors, stars, musicians, writers, poets and technicians who even today rank among the best in the country.

Devika Rani was the star of the Bombay Talkies Ltd. Her outstanding portrayals, her style of acting and new approach created a distinct form and tradition. She acted in numerous films, many of which have become classics of the Indian screen. Among her most famous pictures were "Jawani-Ki-Hawa", "Jeevan Nayya", "Achoot Kanya", "Savitri", "Jeevan Prabhat", "Durga", "Vachan", "Nirmala" and "Izzat".

She was acclaimed as India's greatest film actress, and was popularly known as the "First Lady of the Indian screen".

During this period, Devika Rani was the recipient of numerous honours, awards, medals and prizes from the film industry, the Press and the public.

After the death of the great founder of the Bombay Talkies Mr.Himansu Rai in 1940, Devika Rani was made Controller of Production of the Bombay Talkies. She was a partner and also a producer of the concern. She was asked to assume the responsibility of management of the Bombay Talkies including the business.

As producer and controller of production of the company, Devika Rani continued the high standard of its productions with such outstanding successes as "Punarmilan", "Kangan", "Bandhan", "Basant", "Kismat", "Hamari Baat", etc.,

The shares of the company rose to their highest level during this period. Among some of the outstanding artistes trained and presented for the first time on the screen during the period are such famous names as Leela Chitnis, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, Mumtaz, Shanti, etc., as well as many outstanding technicians, producers, directors, story and screen writers and artistes who are among the most successful film personalities of today.

In 1945 at the height of her film career, Devika Rani decided to retire from the Bombay Talkies Ltd. She married Dr.Svetoslav Roerich, 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 Akademi, Delhi, as a nominee of the Central Government and was a member of the Executive Board of the National Academy, Member of the Lalit Kala Akademi and the National Handicrafts Board and Member of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

On Republic Day, January 26, 1958, the President of India conferred the decoration of "PADMA SHRI" on Devika Rani for her valuable contribution to Indian motion picture.

On November 21, 1970, the Government of India conferred on Devika Rani the first Dadasaheb Phalke Award for her outstanding service to the film industry. Equally invaluable is the prestigious Soviet Land Nehru award conferred on her in 1989.

In 1936, actor Najam-ul-Hussain, who was casted as the leading man in Jeevan Naiya, fell ill 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 action. 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).

She died on March 9, 1994.

Devika Rani Roerich