Overview

Legendary lyricist Dr.C.Narayana Reddy wrote a song named ‘Kanulu Maatladunani’. Sr.NTR enacted this wonderful song which describes the beautiful eyes of the female lead. That female lead is none other than B.Saroja Devi. Her eyes are lotus shaped and can express any sort of emotion with extreme ease. She is fondly called as ‘Abhinaya Saraswathi’ by the Telugu, Kannada and Tamil Audiences. Saroja Devi has acted with almost all stalwart heroes of South Indian Cinema such as Sr.NTR, ANR, MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Kalyan Kumar and Rajkumar and has a high success rate as well. Her appearances with MGR in particular made her the empress of Tamil Cinema for a certain era. This hit pair has acted in 27 films together and all of them remained to be tremendously successful. Until the advent of Jayalalitha in Tamil Cinema, it was B.Saroja’s wave altogether then!

When Bairappa (Saroja Devi’s Father) a police officer in Bangalore came to know his fourth kid is also a daughter, he was aghast. He even said to give the daughter to somebody for raising! But little he knew that the same daughter would become ‘Abhinaya Saraswati’ and admired by everyone in South India. Her fame reached in every direction and she became a proud daughter of her parents.

During the days when Saroja Devi was getting trained in dance, she got her first offer in Kannada film ‘Mahakavi Kalidasa’ in the year 1955. After that, this talented actress never looked back.  Opportunities flocked her in Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada Cinema until she herself had to stop them! Saroja’s career got a quantum leap thanks to veteran actor Sr.NTR. He was the one who introduced Saroja Devi in his home production film ‘Panduranga Mahatyam’ released in the year 1957. Her performance and expressions in the song ‘Neevani Nenani Marachitira’ made Telugu Audience feel that another Vijayanthi Mala graced the Telugu Silver Screen. After watching her great performance in this film, Tamil Actor MGR selected her for one of his films, thereby turning her career to new dimensions. Prominent Tamil Director Sridhar selected Saroja for a film named ‘Kalyana Parisu’ opposite Gemini Ganesan which earned her great accolades. This film was remade by the same director in Telugu with ANR in the lead and Saroja’s performance was greatly appreciated in this version as well. Right from then success became a common phenomenon for this actress. Her portrayal of mythological character Mandodari opposite Sr.NTR in Seetharama Kalyanam enthralled the Telugu Audience. Jagadekaveeruni Kadha, Sri Krishnarjuna Yuddham, Atma Balam, Amara Silpi Jakkanna followed next- which became all time hits. Though films like Shakuntala, Uma Chandi Gauri Sunkarula Kadha, Bhagya Chakram, Manasu Mamata which released later couldn’t see success, her fan base never faltered.

After her wedding in 1967, Saroja limited herself from films. She acted in Telugu Films like Maayani Mamatha, Pandanti Kaapuram and Daana Veera Soora Karna later. Saroja Devi is extremely fond of Indira Gandhi and MGR which made her name her kids after their names!