BENGALURU: Legendary actor B Saroja Devi, the doe-eyed ‘Abhinaya Saraswati’ who held the southern film industries in thrall, passed away at her residence in Bengaluru early on Monday due to age-related health issues. She was 87. Born on January 7, 1938, in Bengaluru, Saroja Devi was encouraged by her parents, especially by her father, a police officer, to learn dance, which eventually opened the doors to the silver screen, and she made her debut in national award-winning Kannada film Mahakavi Kalidasa in 1955.
In a career spanning seven decades and over 200 films, she ruled hearts across languages —Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, and Hindi. While being active in multiple languages was quite normal in those days, the hallmark of her career was her stellar success in each of these industries.
She had an enviable number of superhits with repeated pairings opposite the legends of various industries, including MG Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, and Gemini Ganesan in Tamil, Dr Rajkumar in Kannada, and N T Rama Rao in Telugu.
But it was in Tamil cinema that she shone the brightest, particularly alongside M G Ramachandran (MGR), the iconic superstar, former CM and founder of the AIADMK, who considered her his ‘lucky mascot’. They acted in 48 films together and their very first film, Nadodi Mannan (1958), catapulted the ‘Kannadathu Paingili’ (Kannada’s parrot) to superstardom overnight. Some of their other films like Anbe Vaa (1966) and Arasa Kattalai (1967) have been celebrated as cult classics. Her well-known films with legendary Sivaji Ganesan included Bhaaga Pirivinai (1959), Palum Pazhamum (1961), and Aalayamani (1962). She had starred with Sivaji Ganesan in 22 movies.
Her notable works in other languages included Amarashilpi Jakanachari, Bhagyavantharu, Babruvahana, and Katha Sangama in Kannada.