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She came from a distinguished background, grand-niece of the Nobel Laureate
Rabindranath Tagore, her father, Col. M.N. Chaudhuri, was the first Indian
Surgeon-General of Madras.
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 where she won scholarships. In addition, she studied architecture,
textile and decor design and apprenticed under Elizabeth Arden. She married
Indian producer and actor Himansu Rai in 1929. Together they starred in Karma
the first Hindi sound film. They soon founded Bombay Talkies whose films
challenged the caste system.
There she met Himansu Rai and agreed to design the sets of his first production
Light of Asia (1925). They got married and after marriage they left for Germany
where Rai made A Throw of Dice (1929) in collaboration with Germany's famous UFA
Studio. Rai made a bilingual Karma (1933) with Devika Rani in the lead and the
two came to India. Here Rai and Devika Rani set up the famous Bombay Talkies
Studio. Under the painstaking supervision of Himansu Rai, it purchased the most
modern equipment from Germany. Franz Osten, director and a handful of
technicians came down from England and Germany. By 1935, stream of Hindi
productions began to emerge from Bombay Talkies Ltd. beginning with Jawani ki
Hawa (1935), a murder mystery. Devika Rani played the lead in most of these
early productions. Their films were of a high technical standard and had a
glossy look to them reminiscent of the films of MGM. (Devika Rani was lit up in
a manner not unlike Greta Garbo!) In 1958, the President of India honoured
Devika with a "Padma Shri". In 1970, she became the first recipient of the
prestigious film prize Dadasaheb Phalke Award. At her funeral Devika was given
full state honours.
Devika Rani formed a successful team with Ashok Kumar, which ironically started
due to a scandal as she eloped with her hero of Jawani ki Hawa,
Najam-ul-Hussain. Rai found her and got her to come back and forgave her but not
Hussain and Bombay Talkies Ltd. needed a new leading man. Rai's eyes fell on his
laboratory assistant, Ashok Kumar.
The two of them starred in a series of films starting with Jeevan Naiya (1936)
but it was Achut Kanya (1936), which capitulated Devika Rani and Ashok Kumar to
big time fame. The love story between an untouchable girl and a Brahmin boy was
both a critical and commercial success with critics going in raptures over
Devika's performance.
Going with the trend she even sang her own songs in films with Main Ban ki
Chidiya with Ashok Kumar from Achut Kanya remembered till today. Devika Rani
continued acting till 1943 and when Rai died in 1940 she took over the reins at
Bombay Talkies. Among her discoveries at Bombay Talkies was Dilip Kumar. But
eventually the economics of filmmaking and tussles with other studio executives
led her to take voluntary retirement. She married famed Russian painter
Svetoslav Roerich and stayed at their huge estate near Bangalore in South India.
For her contribution to Indian Cinema, Devika Rani was the first ever recipient
of the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award in 1970. She remained in Bangalore
till her death in 1994
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