Devika Rani

Lore & Background

Devika Rani was born into a wealthy, anglicized Indian family and was sent to boarding school in England at age nine, growing up there. In 1928, she met Himanshu Rai, an Indian film-producer, and married him the following year. She assisted in costume design and art direction for Rai's experimental silent film A Throw of Dice (1929). Both then went to Germany and received training in film-making at UFA Studios in Berlin. Rai cast himself as hero and her as heroine in his next production, the bilingual film Karma, made simultaneously in English and Hindi. The film premiered in England in 1933, elicited interest there for a prolonged kissing scene featuring the real-life couple, and flopped badly in India.

The couple returned to Bombay, India in 1934, where Himanshu Rai established a production studio, Bombay Talkies, in partnership with certain other people. The studio produced several successful films over the next 5–6 years, and Devika Rani played the lead role in many of them. Her on-screen pairing with Ashok Kumar became popular in India. Before Ashok Kumar was selected by Bombay Talkies, Devika Rani was embroiled in a passionate affair with Najmul Hussain, the hero of Javani Ki Hawa. She ran away with him and after frantic efforts by Himanshu Rai to get her back she reluctantly came back.

Following Rai's death in 1940, Devika Rani took control of the studio and produced some more films in partnership with her late husband's associates, namely Sashadhar Mukherjee and Ashok Kumar. As she was to recollect in her old age, the films which she supervised tended to flop or be more average hits, while the films supervised by the partners tended to be hits. In 1945, she retired from films, married the Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich and moved to his estate on the outskirts of Bangalore, thereafter leading a very reclusive life for the next five decades.

Reader's Guide

Devika Rani's significance lies in her pioneering role as the First Lady of Indian cinema, a title widely acknowledged in the industry. She was among the highest-paid actresses of the 1930s and early 1940s, and her work at Bombay Talkies helped shape early Hindi cinema. Her legacy includes being the first recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest film honor, and receiving the Padma Shri. Her on-screen pairing with Ashok Kumar became iconic, and her personal life, including a noted affair and later reclusive marriage to a Russian painter, added to her mystique. Despite a career that ended in 1945, her influence endured through her awards and recognition, including the Soviet Land Nehru Award in 1990. Her films, particularly Karma, are remembered for technical innovation and a record-length kissing scene.

Did You Know?

• Devika Rani was the first recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.
• She appeared in Box Office India's 'Top Actresses' list in 1940 and 1941.
• Her film Karma (1933) featured a prolonged kissing scene that lasted about four minutes, a record in Indian cinema as of 2014.
• She was related through both parents to Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.