Devika Rani 69 Views
If you were to look at the Tagore Family Tree, you will come across Devika Rani ( as also Saif Ali Khan). And yet, born into one of the best known Bengali zamindar families in Bengal her uncles were all famous people in India, in the field of judiciary, law, literature and armed forces. Her grandmother was a sister of the poet Tagore.
She went on to earn the tag “The first lady of Indian Cinema”. And perhaps the first lady actor to kiss on screen!
She was not only an actor, a business person, producer, film maker, she had even done costume designing for films.
She was born on March 30, 1908 at Vizag she was schooled in England and after her schooling she enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the Royal Academy of Music in London to study acting and music. She also enrolled for courses in architecture, textile and decor design, and even apprenticed under Elizabeth Arden. Post her training, she started working as a Textile Designer and met Himanshu Rai, and they worked together, in Throw of Dice and in 1929, marrying him.
In 1933, Rai cast her as the leading lady in his joint Indo German UK production Karma which had the iconic kissing scene (it lasted 4 minutes) and Devika Rani also sang Bollywood’s first English song.
Himanshu rai floated Bombay Talkies which was considered the best production house and studio in India The studio also launched many stars like Ashok Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Sasadhar Mukherjee, Amiya Charavarty in the years to come. However, the relationship between Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani fell through and after Rai died, she took over the studio. And after producing some landmark films, she retired from the industry. In 1945 she married artist Svetsolav Roerich and moved to Manali. She made a few documentaries on wildlife while at Manali and later shifted to Bangalore where she died in 1994.
