Anjali Devi was the famous Indian film actress in Telugu and Tamil. She was also a model and the producer.
Anjali Devi Personal life
Anjali Devi was born on 24 August 1927 in Peddapuram of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, India. Her original name was Anjamma and later she changed her name to Anjani Kumari when she was acting in dramas. After entering the film industry, director C. Pullaiah changed her name to Anjali Devi. She married P. Adinarayana Rao in 1948 who was a music director. They have two sons. They both together produced many Telugu films under the banner, Anjali Pictures. Anjali Devi’s granddaughter is also an actress. She was died on 13 January 2014 at the age of 86, due to a cardiac arrest.
Anjali Devi Film career
She acted in drama’s before entering into Film industry. Before she entered into movies, she was a theater artist and her first film was “Raja Harishchandra” in which she played Lohitaswa role in the year 1936. Anjali Devi got a chance as heroine in 1940 in a movie named Kashtajeevi, but the film was dropped after shooting three reels.
Later she acted as an heroine in the movie named “Gollabhama” directed by C.Pullaiah in 1947. She became an overnight star after this movie and acted in more than 350 movies in different languages like Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and Kannada. Played various roles like Goddess, an angel, demon, dancer and later mother characters. She is well known for her Sita role on Lava Kusa movie in 1963. It was the first movie in Telugu film industry to be released in colour. She was appreciated for her performance in the movies like “Suvarna Sundhari” and Anarkali.
Some of her popular movies
| Movie | Year | Hero |
|---|---|---|
| Lava Kusa | 1963 | NTR |
| Anarkali | 1955 | ANR |
| Bala Nagamma | 1959 | NTR |
| Suvarna Sundari | 1957 | ANR |
| Chenchu Lakshmi | 1958 | ANR |
| Balaraju | 1948 | ANR |
| Mayalamari | 1951 | ANR |
| Sati Anasuya | 1957 | NTR |
| Keelugurram | 1949 | ANR |
| Sati Sakkubai | 1954 | S. V. Ranga Rao |
As a producer she produced 27 movies including movies like Anarkali, Bhakta Tukaram and Chandipriya. she also acted and produced a telefilm named Shirdi Sai-Parthi Sai Divya katha.
Awards
| Award | Year | Category | Film |
|---|---|---|---|
| Filmfare Award | 1955 | Best Actress | Anarkali |
| Filmfare Award | 1958 | Best Actress | Chenchu Lakshmi |
| Filmfare Award | 1963 | Best Actress | Lava Kusa |
| Raghupathi Venkaiah Award | 1994 | lifetime service | Telugu Films |
| Ramineni Award | 2006 | fine arts | – |
- She also received ANR National Award in 2008
- Awarded Arignar Anna Award in 2000
- She was awarded Padmabhushan Dr. B. Saroja Devi National Award in 2010 .
